Haunted
by Corinder
Summary: Anne thought that it would be over for her Pack when justice was done and the disease cured. Selene is an unexpected target though and ...what about the rest? It's not over. It's only just started.  OCs in the WOTO universe. Full summary in chapter 1.
1. Chapter 1

This is part 2 of 'Changes' and continues on from both Anne and Selene's perspectives. :) To get how we got here, feel free to head to that story... or the one before that, Hunted!

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><p><em><strong>Full Summary: <strong>_

_Anne thought that 'werewolf justice' would take care of the problem, thought it would be over when the disease in the supernatural world was cured, thought she could go back to being a mother and lover to her mate and husband. __When one of her pack was murdered and the body taken for a 'skin', a new race comes and the youngest, Selene, is targeted, when the disease mutated and started to affect the human world, her best friend is broken in a way she can't repair and when her youngest babies became heirs and are suddenly wanted by the sorcerer world..._

_Selene's always seen things that no one else can see. It's apart of life for her and one she's gotten used to not talking about. She thought that when these strange people, with their strange energy, came into her life it was the end of hiding and the start of something pretty fricken awesome. Then suddenly she witnessed a creature she'd only seen in nightmares, saw a woman get murdered, and the reality of that 'strange energy' and that face in her nightmares isn't so fricken awesome after all. Suddenly she wishes it was all in her head, those things she sees in her dreams, those things she sees on the street, all of it..._

_It's clear that it's not over. It's only just started._

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><p>We had to go home. We had to go back to Stonehaven. The sooner the better, apparently, because as soon as Elena decided this we were already packing things into boxes, bags, suitcases, getting ready to leave as soon as it got dark.<p>

Karl joined Antonio who volunteered to drive the moving truck we'd hired. There were apparently road blockades, so to speak, places the police were 'checking' for sick people. None of us had to worry about that, we were all healthy now, but with myself and Reece looking the way we did it was going to take some explaining. It made sense to let the most level headed... so to speak... be in the truck itself.

Nick, Reece and myself were going to be in the car behind. It was no more a car than the moving van was a compact though- it was a mini-van, big enough for up to eight people. Or three adults and five babies. I had assumed it was hired for a few hours, petrified about the idea of taking three toddlers and a couple of babies in a hired car, aware that we were all too good at trashing them. They'd stop hiring them out to us soon. But apparently no, this was _my_ car. I owned a car. Okay, it was a van, not a car but …according to Antonio I was going to need it. Need a baby mover, as he put it, half amused and half exasperated. This explained why I'd found a bag of condoms in the tray thing in the front of the car. Apparently the twins were going with Pav and Vi this time, Vi wasn't taking chances with my babies, she wanted to fly straight to Stonehaven. Elena had agreed that was a good idea.

I watched them finish off the truck, told to stop lifting things, trying to stop worrying for a few hours and just enjoy the sight like any hot blooded woman should have. Elena sat beside me. It was a nice sight all right- six male werewolves, Antonio, Jeremy, Reece, Nick, Clayton and Karl. All with incredible bodies, incredible shirtless sweating bodies, hoisting heavy objects into the back of the moving van.

With this spectacle going on it wasn't long before Hope appeared with Selene. It kind of shocked me to see what had happened to Hope in the two days that'd gone past and see the bruises that'd come out. She looked delicate at the best of times, being so short, but now? Half her face was yellow, purple and red, parts of it puffy, probably where the branch had broken through the window and struck her face, not to mention the cut. Now covered with a big white bandage. She leaned on crutches and her eyes were fixed on Karl, no shock to me.

In comparison, Selene leaned against the window, her arm in a sling, just as bruised and battered looking. Selene looked a bit overwhelmed by the sight of six half naked werewolves. Who could blame her? I felt a bit overwhelmed.

Vi came out and stared at us. "What is so interesting?"

I pointed.

Even she looked a bit taken back by it. Clayton snorted, shooting us a look, and Elena just waved. There was a small smile on her face as she watched him, eyes fixed on him, leaning back as she watched. Enjoyed the sight. Nick glanced up at grinned at us, a big smirk, only to be knocked back as Reece threw a heavy box at the dead centre of his chest.

We didn't really need them to do it. We didn't need to take it easy. Not really. But if they insisted, why would we argue?

"You want that big ice chest in?" Clayton called as he stood up, the curls sticking to his damp forehead, glancing over to us.

"Yeah. Then we'll cover it with the regular things." Elena nodded, standing. "Want me to..."

"You sit down. We'll do it." Clayton jumped off the back of the van and strode inside, pulling Nick along behind him.

"Good to be Alpha." Vi muttered. She didn't look angry though, just amused, shooting the men a look as if she was half tempted to go on over and out-do them. "Do you want us to bring our suitcases back there?"

Elena sat back down. "May as well bring them all down now. The testosterone in that truck is making them pack faster than I expected."

I glanced up to the window, grasping for Vi's hand, just as she was stepping back. "Is Hope and Pav coping upstairs? I can go up."

"You were told to get a few hours rest." Vi's eyes went over me. Now that the twins were safe, now that we were safe, she had calmed down. The anxiety, the restlessness, it was almost gone. Almost. She knelt beside me, stroking my leg, that kind of sadness there. "They are doing okay. The triplets are eating dinner. The twins have just been fed. Let yourself rest for a moment. Enjoy the sight." She leaned up to kiss my cheek and jogged away for the inside before I could try an argument.

Elena pulled me back down and we went back to watching the men do all the hard work. The ice chest was big and, I had to guess from their faces, they hadn't thought to empty it before they moved it. Werewolf strength or not- it'd be pretty heavy.

"Should we suggest they empty it?" I asked softly, meeting Elena's blue eyes, and she grinned.

"Why?" She leaned back again, watching Clayton with open affection, which seemed to just make him even more stubborn about getting the others to do it. It was cute to watch. I rarely saw this side of him, this side that was all about Elena, all about their kids, he kept it hidden. It was kind of innocent, kind of sweet, and it amused her.

Nick on the other hand was trying to get my attention. He grinned when I met his eyes, nearly dropping the heavy chest as they tried to get it into the van safely, Antonio whacking him across the head.

"Is the minivan ready for the trip?" Elena asked as we watched them.

"More or less. Car seats in, snacks in the back, my handbag's already in there. Some books. It just needs the people. I can't believe ..." That they'd bought it. Crazy. My own car. It even had a DVD player!

"When you learn to drive it'll be useful." Elena smiled. "Take some DVDs. It might help. Do you mind if Matt comes in our car?"

I shook my head. "Course not. I suppose the truck might be a bit squashed."

"That's what Jeremy thought." Elena agreed.

We watched them as it got dark. The ice chest was in, they were covering it in towels to keep it cold longer, and loaded up 'regular' things. Mostly boxes of toys, clothing, random things that Antonio didn't particularly need anyway. It was to cover the food if the back of the van was searched, unlikely but with the paranoia around, Elena didn't want to take chances I suspected. There was a lot of food. I wondered how Elena had got so much.

Finally it was done. Finally we could move. Vi and Pav got the twins ready to go, the 'plane people' taking the hired car back to the airport with them, and it showed how much I trusted them to let them take them. But of course I did. Jeremy, Hope, Selene, Jamie and Alan were going to be going with them. Paige was staying here for a few more days. We ate dinner together, leftover things from the fridge, and Antonio went around the house locking things up, checking everything, Nick going around with him. He'd hired a house keeper he knew and trusted to come in to stay in the place. It wasn't a bad job, house keeping, living in a place like this.

Elena and Clayton went with Pav and Vi, the three big kids in the car with them, they'd stay with them till they were safely on the plane. I glanced back at the house, Reece's hand in mine as he waited with us, watching as the small parade of cars vanished down the road. Then it was just us with the toddlers in warm jackets waiting inside.

"Okay. Let's get them in and get going." Antonio clapped his hands, went inside, and the triplets happily followed him out. We lifted them one by one into the back seat of the new car, Reece hopping into the middle seat, and I joined Nick up the front.

When we were ready, Antonio drove the moving van out of the driveway, waited for us to leave, and hopped back out to lock everything up.

I understood why we were doing it at night as we made our way slowly out of the city. It was quieter, streets emptier, the usual reasons but something else too. There were checkpoints. People checking for illness. The lines in them weren't small either and I had to assume that during the day it was longer. Getting out of the city was a little harder than getting in, apparently, and I was glad that the triplets were happy to sleep anywhere. Reece made sure that they had something to block the light out as we sat there.

There wasn't much issue though. We had to let them check our temperature, no problems, we saw the moving van go past without so much as a check in the front seat, and we had to answer some questions. When it was clear we weren't sick, though they did question Reece and myself a bit on my injuries, we were let out of the city. Or maybe they let us go because they'd woken the triplets and, where one grumpy toddler was scary, three grumpy toddlers was a horror story all of its own. The doctor was eager to get out of the back while they whined, and grumbled, and Susie even started to cry, she was tired and they weren't leaving her alone with the poky thing in her ear. I had to slide into the back seat with Reece to help sooth them back to sleep.

He wasn't okay. I knew I kept thinking it, tried to not think it, but in the darkness I saw it. I felt it. Nick glanced back at him frequently too. It was hard to explain. I knew Nick hadn't been 'okay' after Lillian's funeral, knew he was still struggling, but it was a different sense from him. He was healing. Maybe I'd helped by seeing her after the funeral, maybe, maybe it helped him to know that she was more or less drifting around trying to stay involved.

Reece was different. I felt uneasy about him, uneasy about even letting him sit alone with the triplets, just ...strange. He'd had to drink a sedative just before the checkpoint so he was aware that he wasn't okay, that wasn't it, it was something else. Reece was restless, drumming his hands, not meeting our eyes. It felt like he was itching for a fight. Something. I didn't know. I told Clayton, even if it seemed a little like 'snitching', let him know. He'd done a good job with me when I'd been unhappy, beating me up, and while that sounded like the kind of thing that'd give a therapist a heart attack... for me, as a werewolf, it worked. It'd snapped me back out of it.

Clayton was quick to text back and agree that something was going on. He and Antonio had both noticed. They were leaving the airport now and he'd deal with it. I apparently had permission to cage Reece if it seemed like he'd harm himself or do something stupid, like run onto Forestwatch's land searching for the skin-walker, a possibility I couldn't deny was there after our chat earlier.

Physical contact had helped so I slid across to him, closer, wrapping an arm around Reece's shoulders and drawing him into my side. He sighed, shut his eyes, relaxing as his heart slowed. It did seem to do some good.

"Your smell." He muttered, inhaling slowly. "It helps."

"Good." I muttered. I pulled out a sandwich from the bag in front of us and held it up to his nose. "How about this smell?"

Reece inhaled, grinned and snatched it. "That too."

I passed one to Nick and slid around to check that the triplets were okay. They'd fallen asleep again now that the car was moving, eyes shut, barely aware or caring where they were. It'd only become a problem if they were woken up again. I'd gotten a DVD of 'peaceful things' for them. It was apparently for meditation. It worked for toddlers too. Bored them to sleep.

It wasn't the last checkpoint on the long drive. Each county had one. I didn't even know there were so many. Australia didn't have these. We had shires or councils. It was probably the same thing, except that there were less in a state. I thought. I wasn't sure all of a sudden. But it made for some very cranky toddlers as they were woken up again and again over the long drive, as apologetic people prodded things into their ears, checking for disease. The DVD suddenly became very useful.

About four hours in Clayton called and asked us to stop at the next fast food place and wait for them.

"Something wrong?" Nick asked, glancing back us. Clayton's voice was hearable, even without speaker phone.

"Na. You're an hour ahead of us. Figured your babies might want a sleep after the humans harassing them." He sounded like this was the real reason. I wasn't sure it was. Was he wanting to keep an eye on Reece? Or something else? Either way, there was no point to argue, because he was right. An hour of sleep for the triplets would be perfect.

We stopped at a place and Nick went in to get a small army's worth of hot junky food. It was three times more expensive than usual, naturally, but they were still allowing people to buy large amounts if they had the cash to burn. We didn't. But I didn't tell him off, we did need the food, anything we could 'store' would be a good investment when we had to cut our own food down and rely on hunting. A 'fat' wolf was a happy wolf and so could overlook the prey. A hungry wolf was not and noticed every injured, sick or scared 'prey' in the area.

"Mutts are going to cause us some problems." I muttered as we sat there in the back seats eating, Nick having sat down and pulled me into his lap, my legs across Reece's legs.

"Yeah, I know." Reece answered. "Rations for humans. They're going to be hungry."

"There's not much we can do." Nick nuzzled against my neck as he ate a potato wedge covered in cheese. "They're not helpless. They'll have to go hunting for animals like us."

"Yeah, or humans." Reece muttered. He gazed out the window. There was that dark look back on his face. I nudged him and he blinked, staring at me, reaching out to stroke my leg. "But we're not letting them."

That wasn't totally true. Pack policy was to allow it, more or less, if they 'cleaned up'. We didn't like it, we didn't promote the idea, it was pretty clear to all mutts that we loathed them if they were mankillers... but we couldn't check every murder or dead body found in every state of America. Couldn't hunt each mankiller down unless he drew attention to himself. Then we'd deal with him. With a shortage of food suddenly this may become a reality more and more. Hungry mutts trying to survive.

I fell asleep against Nick, shutting my eyes, and only woke when I felt myself half lowered between them on the middle seat, both of their arms across me or my back.. It wasn't a romantic gesture. They were wanting a free hand to eat while I cuddled up to them. I just ignored this little fact and went back to sleep.

The door slid open, cold air and dampness coming in, Clayton shoving Nick to one side. I ended up in Reece's lap as Clayton sat down beside us, yawning, reaching over to check the paper bags.

"Didn't save me any?"

"Go buy your own." Nick yanked it out of his hands. "Everything okay?"

Clayton scowled at him and glanced at where Elena had gone in with Matt trailing after her. "Wanted Matt out of the way so I could explain. Hope didn't remember how they crashed but apparently it came back on the plane."

"I take it, it wasn't a good thing." I muttered as I shifted on Reece's lap, trying to get comfortable, his arm coming between my back and the cold window.

"Not really. That thing apparently scared her. The car crashed because she was serving away from it." Clayton scowled softly. "She texted me, luckily, I didn't want Matt to overhear that. We'll drive together and if anything happens..."

"It won't." Nick added

"...then there's another car. With help. Ain't loosing any more pack." He frowned. Clayton glanced at the restaurant as Elena came out with the bags of food, Matt close at her heels with another couple of bags, his face softening. "So we'll lead. Reece, I want you to come in our car. The twins will come sit in here. You can follow us."

We were protecting them, in other words, guarding them while Clayton drove ahead.

"Matt will notice that." I said softly and he scowled.

"Yeah, he will. Can't help that. He doesn't have to know why I do things. He's just got to follow my orders." He stood up and swung the door open, jumping out. "Be back in a moment."

I got off Reece's lap and he got out, jumping after Clayton onto the ground, following him to the smaller faster car. We got out and stretched in the dark cold night, Nick's hand grasping mine again, Clayton and Reece returned moments later, each with a sleepy kid in their arms, Logan and Kate barely knowing or caring why they were being swapped. They trusted their dad. Or maybe it was because we had a DVD player. I saw Kate had a DVD in her hand and my lips twitched as she crawled in, yawned, and asked if she could watch it with Logan.

"There's headphones in here." Nick reached in to open up some kind of storage compartment I hadn't noticed. "Use them so the triplets don't wake."

"Okay." Kate yawned again and put the DVD on, Logan shutting his eyes beside her, Clayton throwing a woollen blanket across their laps. She looked like she'd go back to sleep soon anyway.

"Let's go." Clayton met Nick's eyes and Nick nodded, Clayton and Reece jogging back to his car, the two of us sliding into the front seats of the people mover. Nick put the locks on, glancing back, and I saw it... this protective look, probably because the kids were alone back there.

Clayton pulled out and we followed him closely, easily done on the empty roads, his driving slowing as our heavier car struggled to keep up with his fast one. Matt waved from the back seat and I saw him curl up against Elena's side in the back, her silvery hair standing out through the tinted windows.

We went back to the driving, road check, driving, road check routine. They were even more sympathetic now, even _more_ willing to get out of our hair, now that we had two kids as well as three toddlers. Clayton got held up a bit longer each time. We frequently had to pull over and wait for him. Once we had to go around a county completely- apparently it was in curfew, like the city, and we couldn't go in. This added to the stress and I was amazed at how focused Nick was, his eyes on Clayton's car, no trace of tiredness. This was what he was great at. Following orders and sticking through with it.

At one point I fell asleep, only to be startled awake by the smell of burning rubber and Nick swearing softly. I stared around, heart racing, trying to see the danger. No danger. Clayton had gotten a bit too far ahead for his liking and had braked too fast, which had caught Nick by surprise.

"Wolf man 1, this is wolf man 2. Stop doing that. I repeat- _stop it_. " Nick hissed into his cell.

Clayton just swore at him over the line, something about not using the phone while driving, and hung up without bothering to comment on the 'wolf man' line.

The toddlers were slightly less grumpy though, now that Kate and Logan were there and a DVD was playing silently, though I knew they were getting exhausted from being constantly woken up. The next few days would be hard till they'd caught up.

Finally we caught it- the smell of familiar lands. Nick's shoulders tightened and Clayton sped, just a fraction more, but he slowed down again when he started to get too far. We'd gotten here. No more road checks, nothing, just home. Stonehaven was always home for the pack, it would always be, always that central point of the territory. We were safe here.

I breathed out slowly as Nick pulled into the driveway behind Clayton, pausing as Reece got out to shut the gates, and then we made our way slowly down the dark driveway. It was starting to rain again, cold winter-like rain, but the lights on in Stonehaven cut through the drizzle. Jeremy and Antonio were waiting on the porch. The moving van was here.

"Here we are." Nick pulled up and glanced back to the kids, half asleep. Clayton was already at the door, quietly pulling it open, and Jeremy took Kate as Clayton lifted up Logan. They were asleep now and didn't even stir as they were carried through the rain inside. Matt wandered in behind Reece, yawning, probably trying his best to keep up with the adults.

My door open and Antonio pulled me out into his arms, ignoring my protest of 'I can walk', carting me inside like I was injured. I was dropped gently onto the couch and he vanished to help Nick and Jeremy bring in the three grumpy tired babies.

I stood up and went upstairs, breathing in, trying to find Vi's scent. Followed it to the room the babies were in. I went in and breathed in slowly, deeply, drawing their scents into my lungs until I was drunk with the knowledge that they were safe. Here. Sleeping peacefully. Vi was sleeping in here with them. She raised her head, gazed at me through the dark, and waved her hand at me... trying to shoo me. Maybe she'd only just got them to sleep.

Nick was waiting when I came out. I glanced into the room the triplets would be in, expecting to hear them fuss, but they were asleep. Maybe they'd worn out to the point of sleeping through everything.

"Come on, wife. Let's pass out." Nick yawned, tugging me down the hallway to our room, and we did just that. Stripped and passed out on the bed, arms across each other, the sheer relief that came with being here flooding over both of us.

Several weeks passed without incident. Alan and Selene went to Forestwatch to be with their 'family'. Karl and Hope stayed in town. Somehow, even with all the bullshit going on, we managed to live a fairly normal life for those few weeks.

The problem with the borders closed meant that Alan could not get all the 'Elders' together. The few that'd taken over Forestwatch, now offering us rent for it, refused to talk with Elena until they discussed this amongst themselves face to face. This meant that they had to apply to get into the state. Which meant time. Elena took this well, this delay, Clayton not so much.

Forestwatch was now off limits. I didn't get much say in the matter. I still didn't mind so much, particularly when they let me know that they'd actually gotten the building checked over, didn't use the bedrooms- they had tents or something- and they were repairing the roof as repayment, but it was still frustrating. Matt minded big time. That was his home. His terrorirty. He was really pissed off about it and he only stayed calm because Clayton was more or less his hero and Clayton was good at pretending to be okay with it. I doubted Clayton was okay with it. Forestwatch was connected to Stonehaven now.

I spent the weeks basking in poop, vomit, food, mess and dirty clothing. I loved being a mother, sort of, loved that it wasn't involve blood or mess or limbs breaking. Okay, it was too much, these kids were too many too fast, but right now I didn't care. Neither did Nick. And the old 'Pack help' was never far, even if it was only Antonio throwing one of the frozen dinners in the microwave or throwing a load of washing in for us while we were chasing half naked toddlers through the house while trying to feed hungry babies in our arms. It was crazy though. Crazy how much I missed a conversation that did not involve bowl movements, the wiggles, cooking or the naughty step.

This was not improved by our need to go into town once a week. The town closest to Stonehaven wasn't that big and with so many sick in town, with the disease crowding it all around, it'd become suspicious, petty, watchful. Not of me. Apparently because I was a mother they knew, because my triplets were a known sight around town, I was excused from suspicion and Nick was more or less in the same free ride. Elena and Clayton weren't quite at the same level of 'We know them, they have kids, they're married' mindset, not with how little they liked to interact, but they too were more or less accepted in town and weren't stared at or followed around. This was probably largely to do with Kate and Logan returning to school with Matt. Anyone else, no luck. Even Jeremy had issues with being given refused service or cold shoulders. Karl and Hope were followed, Vi and Pav with their accents were given open suspicion particularly when they made it clear they were a couple, and in the end Nick and myself did the shopping. This disease had made people stop hiding their hangups and fears about people. Racism, sexism, it was back out in the open, barely concealed under the 'we might get sick' fear.

It wasn't everyone. It was only a handful of the town that were that bad, really, but a handful were enough to get others afraid, to harass people we knew, to drive Karl nuts when Hope and their toddler was apparently was cornered one day and told to 'Go back where you come from' even though she was very clearly raised in America. The two of them ended up coming to stay at Stonehaven. But when Antonio called and told me that Reece had been thrown in the cage, I knew he'd done something really stupid.

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><p><strong>Selene<strong>

Alan used to talk about his 'family' sometimes. When he said it I had always expected it to be a bunch of guys that'd gone to college with him. Either really drunk idiots, hinting that he'd been a normal guy once, or really serious nerds, proving that he'd always been a bit boring and unimaginative.

I hopped out of the car at this house they were staying at, Alan and 'the family', and found that it really was some kind of family. Old people. Adults. No one as young as me but they weren't a bunch of thirty year old college guys either. They shook hands politely, didn't really say much to me, introduced themselves and then went back to doing stuff.

I'd been recruited to go into the bigger city nearby for a list of stuff they wanted and had driven back with a trailer of it. Mostly stuff to do with repairing the roof. Alan said that they'd hired the place in exchange for repairing the roof and doing some handiwork around and they weren't just doing that, from the looks of the list, they'd wanted other things like bullets and soil and seedlings. There was some garden beds being made along the front of the house and I saw them planting a big lemon tree out in the backyard.

Still, it was a bit funny to see, because they weren't actually sleeping in there. There were tents all over the clear spots and some in the shadows of the trees. I stared around as they unloaded the car and unhooked the trailer. Tried to ignore the stares right back. It was like a Yeti wandering out of a cave into a human town and going 'Hey, interesting choice of shelter...' as it gawked at their houses. Same thing. I didn't get the most friendly looks when I stared at their tents.

"Thanks. Here." Alan handed me a wad of cash and another list. "There's a walmart in the town nearby. Can you get this for us?"

This list was huge. I stared at the trailer they'd unhooked and wheeled to one side, thinking how I might need it again, but they clearly wanted it here.

"What about the shop?" I asked as I folded up the long list. "Rent's gonna kill us if we don't ..."

"I hired some people to take care of it. Go on and get that list. Don't talk to anyone, Beth, they're a little suspicious here. Here. These are all of our ration cards." He piled those into my hand as well. "See you soon."

I frowned at his words, a little hurt, but Alan was already turning away and heading into the house to talk with another man. He'd paid me to manage and run the shop and it wasn't a bad life. Reading, serving customers, ordering books, while he trusted me with the budgeting. Whatever Alan did, something to do with IT in one of the bigger companies, it never left him time to run the book store. So this was pretty much me getting fired. I hoped this thing didn't last.

I wondered what he meant by 'don't talk to anyone' as I drove back for the town. That odd little 'suggestion' almost overshadowed my annoyance with his refusal to use the name I'd chosen in collage. Well, _given_, I was given the name. My friends had always caught me staring at the moon and matched it with my love of all things spooky... Selene had been their idea of a joke and I _liked_ it. It stuck.

Talking wasn't really something I could do though. The list was huge, really, I got a pen out, divided it into three parts and tore it into thirds... just so I didn't go mad. Mostly stuff relating to more handywork, and I found that Walmart didn't have a lot, they'd sold out. It was frustrating. He'd just have to accept it though, unless he expected me to go into the city again, and if he did he'd have to wait or go himself. I couldn't refill the car till tomorrow because of the fuel rations. I loaded up the trolley three times with each third of the list, more soil, bullets again, clothing in sizes, towels, hammers, soap, coal, stuff like that. Some random stuff too though. There were a lot of vitamins they wanted and the cost had doubled so I ended up using my own cash to get the last of the lists. Alan would repay me.

Once the car was loaded I made my way to the town hall where they were giving out rations, pushing the trolley, aware that I was being stared at . It made my skin crawl. This town, these people, they stared at me like I was a stranger on a wanted poster. The staring got worse when I got a tickle in my throat and dared to cough.

I'd forgotten my mask. It was in the car. I'd been so busy thinking about cutting lists into thirds and …

And people were following me too. It was this sudden realisation, like being doused in icy water, that I had people following me. Why? How long? I didn't know. I had a job to do though. Ration cards. Lots of the stupid things. They were like credit cards so they'd know I wasn't trying to scam. The computers would record each swipe.

I left the trolley outside and stood in line, heart thumping a bit as those guys that'd followed me now stood outside, and I saw them take it away. Trolley police? Or just idiots trying to cause trouble? This meant I had to do a few trips. I could probably carry two boxes at a time which meant it'd be... I counted the cards in my pocket, scowling. nine trips. Lots of 'family' were apparently leaving me with the chores of rations. Fantastic. That was … a lot of people! Okay, so maths without a calculator, not my strong point.

"Ahem."

Oh. I blinked, smiled sheepishly, as I realised I was at the start of the line. The woman raised an eyebrow, all cold and untrusting.

"Do you live here?" She asked. She didn't even wait for the cards to come out. "Residential collection only."

"Yeah. I rent a house here." Mine was in town. Theirs, I hoped, would be 'registered' at that Forestwatch place. If not then I'd let Alan know. "It's on my card. My, uh, family. They're repairing a house so I have to collect for everyone."

"Card." I handed her the first two cards. She handed one back. "One card at a time. You'll have to line up for each card." She swiped it and I saw something come out, a pre-packaged box and a cold box. "Bring the cold bag back next week or we'll charge you five for a new one."

It was a bit heavy. I lifted it up, sliding the used card into my other pocket, and made my outside slowly. Should have parked closer. Those idiots were following me again, muttering something to each other, but they stayed back. I carefully lowered the box into the front seat, cold box in the back, and walked the five minutes back to the town hall. Lined up again.

I had to line up for each person. Eighteen cards. Eighteen times in the line. It got past lunch, the line grew a little more, and the idiots vanished for a while. I just tried to hold my head up and do this stupid thing. But it was too much. Alan would have to find a better way. The looks I got, like they were tempted to pull me aside and question me like I was a criminal, when I kept coming back with new cards... I accidently gave her a used card and saw her head go up like 'Ah ha!'. I may have even felt a bit like crying when she lectured me, fumbling with cards, remembering that actually the unused cards were in the other pocket. Handed her one. It shut her up but … they were so suspicious. Other people got to get multiple boxes at once, I noticed, even had help carrying them out. I guessed they were locals.

My arms ached as I carried the last pair of boxes through the darkness, relief flooding through me, making my way carefully across the wet ground to my car. Only five hours of lining up. It'd gotten dark while we were doing it and I'd only just gotten in before it closed the doors.

Someone yanked at my arm suddenly from a gap between buildings, the boxes falling and exploding open everywhere, and I was shoved into a tiny alleyway and nearly into a big stinking bin. Those idiots from before towered over me and glared at me, while one of them took the food off the ground, throwing it into a car that'd been parked in the alley.

"Give me your keys." The guy closest to me, the one really bending over me, was not asking nicely. He was all ready to hit me. "Bitch, give me your keys. Only people from here get that food."

"I live here." I tried to say, cringing as his arm shifted, but it was just to gesture to his mates to hold my arms. They held me there as he searched my pockets, taking the keys and the cards, throwing them to a friend nearby who vanished out of the alleyway.

"Bitch, don't lie to me. We've been here our whole lives. We know who lives here. This is our town. We don't need you or your kind bringing that sickness here." He leaned hard over me, pressing me into his friend, his breath on my face. I was petrified. I didn't want to be beaten up over this.

"I was just … getting food. For my family. We liv-"

That fist that'd scared me now found my stomach and I gasped, winded, pain exploding in the soft tissue there. His hands grabbed me and threw me down against the bin, as his friend stepped back.

"Dude, calm down." His friend actually looked a bit shocked, as his eyes met my wide ones. I reached up to find blood trickling down my head, feeling dazed. This was all over _food_? This was _mad_. He reached out for his friend, only to be shoved back. "Seriously. We got the food. Calm down."

"Go make sure no one's coming." He snapped, ignoring his friend. "Make sure this bitch knows what'll happen if she comes back. Teach her a lesson. Don't need them spreading that sickness here anymore."

"Seri-" The friend was shoved back and he turned, heading down the alleyway, glancing back at me with a look that might have been regret. I didn't know. My attention was on the idiot again.

He shoved me down as I tried to stand, shoved me hard into the wet ground, and I saw what it was he wanted to do. I struggled then, struggled as he tried to get my skirt up, pleading, "Look, you got the food and the cards, just … my brother's coming."

I got a hand covering my mouth. He swore as he tried to undo his pants, his breathing hard, swearing at me as if it was my fault that the belt caught. A fist meeting my face. I fell backwards, seeing him throw it to one side, looping it around my wrists and forcing them up above my head. Button, I saw him reach for the zipper, trying to unloop my hands from the belt and... a dark shape tore him off me, tore him off by the hair, throwing him a good five metres. The growl, this deep feral growl, it shocked and scared me equally as much as the idiot himself.

The Australian. Reece. He went after the guy, the growl coming from him, smelling faintly of alcohol. I got up, sliding the belt off and throwing it aside, trying to stand.

He was beating him up. Over, and over, and over, a fist finding the guy, or a foot, this Australian who'd seemed so friendly, suddenly something else. The friends of the idiot rushed in and he turned his attention to them, to my horror, the guy lying there in a pool of his own blood. I felt a shock of horror when I saw he wasn't' moving. Had he killed him?

Another man came in, grabbing the Australian, holding his arms as he tried to strike them. They were throwing the cards at me, trying to grab their still friend, one of them with a huge bruise on the side of his face already from the Australian. Babbling apologies.

I saw my car had been set on fire, saw it through the alleyway, and them vanishing in a couple of cars with my food. This was overshadowed by the two men, Reece still trying to tear himself free of the older man, and when his eyes met mine, the intensity in the, the rage, the ...I didn't know. Like he was about to come for me. It and the smell of alcohol on him scared the crap out of me. His friend … she'd died, because he had to come back to help me. Did he blame me?

I backed up fast and ran for it, leaving the cards behind, heading straight for the taxi that'd just come around the road. It nearly ran into me. The man swore at me, just for a second, till he saw Reece charging after me, blood all over his face and hands.

"Get in."

I did, the taxi driver skidded away, leaving the mad Australian behind. Called Hope. She was there at the apartment just minutes after me, with her baby and that partner, and while she calmed me down, he stood outside and made calls.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

I found Reece drunk that night. Drunk out of his head in our bedroom, realising that for the past two weeks I'd more or less ignored him. It wasn't on purpose. I had assumed he was with Antonio, I saw them together a lot, assumed he'd come when he needed me.

He apparently needed me right now. He curled up on my side of the bed, the empty beer cans showing he'd been there some time, still with plenty of full ones to keep him going. Nick froze as the door as the stench of drunk Reece and beer drifted over, glancing at me, sliding over to the spot beside the door. He'd keep watch just in case.

Reece glanced up as I shrugged off the jacket, Nick sliding in and closing the door behind us, but staying out of the way. His eyes were bloodshot, face wet, and instantly I knew that he wasn't safe. Maybe he was with me. But not for going into town. Not for a while maybe. That near-fight was just a warning as to what he might do if he was on his own.

"Thought you might want ...some fun." He swallowed the last of the can, trying to stand, but swayed and flopped back on the ground. Reece didn't look like he wanted 'some fun'. He looked too drunk to stand.

"Reece, you're drunk"

"No fucking kidding, woman." He groaned and rubbed his head. "I know I'm fucking drunk. Want to get drunk?"

"Not really." Not with him like this. I flopped beside him, ignoring Nick's gesture to come back, Reece's arm going across my shoulders. He was a pretty ugly drunk. I ignored the hand groping me, knew it was just the alcohol and the grief, and let him stroke my face as he tried to focus on me.

"Want a kiss?"

"In the morning." After he'd brushed his teeth. I gently pushed his head sideways as he came for me. "What's wrong?"

"What the fuck do you think?" Reece snapped. But then he blinked, staring at me, regret as he'd realised who it was he was snapping at. "Sorry. I'm drunk."

"That's not an excuse." Nick muttered from the doorway.

"Talk to me." I urged him gently, kicking the beer away with a foot, pushing it under the bed and out of Reece's reach. "Here I am. Yours. All night, if you don't keep trying to get me in bed. Drunk guys aren't good in threesomes."

Reece scowled, but he didn't argue, leaning against me as he breathed in and out slowly. The tears had started to come back.

"Daniella?" I asked softly. The look in his face at her name was all the answer I needed. I wrapped my arms around him hard, Reece's chest heaving as I felt a soft sob come from deep inside it, the broken part raw and exposed now that he was too drunk to try and hide it.

"I gotta... gotta go." Reece tried to stand again. Pushed me back and tried to stand, the tears running down his face, trying to hide it. He didn't want me to see him crying. "I got to go."

"You're staying here till Nick gets Antonio."

"No. Don't... don't get him." Reece stood up, unsteady, hand crushing the empty can in his hand. But it wasn't empty, I realised with dread, smelling and seeing the foul cheap beer seep onto the carpet and bed."Daniella wasn't my mate." He swayed, clutching for a curtain, dropping the can. I ignored it as it fell and spilt, catching Reece before he could tear the curtain down, his body slumping over my shorter one. Tears fell freely onto my head and shoulder as he stood there, shaking, reeking of beer.

I somehow backed us up to the bed, trying to get him to sit down, and he flopped there with his arms around my middle, head against my chest, breathing in and out fast and shallow.

"She wasn't my mate. She kept trying to tell me. No. I had to push it. I _had_ to push her till she had to push me away." He hiccuped, big sobbing hiccups, leaning against me as Nick stayed where he was, watching Reece carefully from the bathroom.

Slowly I turned his head up, the devastation in his face breaking my heart all over again. Reece had loved her. Mate or not, he'd really loved the woman.

"You just cared about her."

"If I hadn't forced her to push me away, Anne, if I hadn't … she would have stayed my friend. I would have been friends. I would take friend any day. I wasted so much time waiting for something that wasn't going to happen. I wasted it." Reece started to cry again, head against my chest, the grief rocking his body as he struggled to breathe. "She didn't have to run from me."

"No, Reece. She did care. It wasn't you she was running from." I sat down carefully in his lap and nodded for Nick to leave. It was okay. He wasn't violent and he wasn't to try and force me to sleep with him. It was just his attempts to hide what was really going on.

Nick nodded and vanished out the door, glancing back, as the big guy clung to me like a baby, his sobs heaving.

"She wasn't my mate. But she was ...she was mine. I didn't ...think about it." He was struggling to talk. "I didn't think... I just knew she was mine. I woulda' married her. Would have spent my life. Don't... don't care if we had no babies. Don't care." Reece's head hid in my hair, holding onto me. "But she wasn't my mate. It was... wasn't her. I thought it was. It made sense. The wo... the world revolved around her."

I wondered if she'd known. Maybe she did. Maybe it'd scared her. I wish I'd have been there to ...I didn't know. I'd been raped and I remembered each time, remembered it much too clearly, but she said she'd been raped and had lost count. How much did you have to suffer before you couldn't mentally hold onto it anymore? When your brain sacrificed memory for sanity? Reece clung to me as my own grief re-surfaced. Not just for her, but for them, and for Daniella's child. She'd only mentioned it once.

"She's with her baby." I murmured against his neck, breathing hard now, trying to breathe and be strong for him. "She's okay."

"Her ..." He inhaled slowly, shutting his eyes tight. "Yeah. She is. She's with that baby they killed."

Maybe she was.

"I was so distracted, Anne. I let her down because all I could … I promised her, how ever angry she was with me, I'd always be there to protect her. They'd never hurt her again." Reece leaned back, his eyes meeting mine, that devastation there. That grief that almost made him look mad, that made the inner wolf in me nervous and anxious and watchful, that anger at himself. "But I was distracted."

"There were a lot of people attacking." I tried to comfort him, kissing his face, stroking his hair, ignoring the beer and the tears and the snot.

"No. I was distracted by _her_." He inhaled slowly. Shut his eyes. "I... should have gone outside. Apologised. Said I was sorry to her. I should have said sorry to Daniella. She was right. She wasn't my mate. I was … obsessed with Daniella when the other one was … waiting. There. Just waiting for me. Drooling on Twilight."

Wait, other one? He hadn't told me he...

Suddenly I got it. That look he kept flashing Selene when we'd met her, like she'd just pressed his 'charm on' button. The way he kept trying to stand up for her when he really didn't have to. And why he'd nearly lost his cool today when they'd harassed her. "Selene?"

"Yeah. It was like... the world. It snapped to her. Like a magnet. And I dream about her. It's not like that." He muttered, when I raised an eyebrow. "Just us. Alone together. In the forest. Running. I never see her but I ...I know it's her running beside me. If I had ...if I had said to Daniella. I was sorry. She was right. She might have … we might have been friends. She needed me as a friend. I kept pushing for more." He squeezed his eyes shut, pain flooding his face, so much regret. "I should have said sorry. She ...she hates sex. But she did it with strangers over and over, because I followed her, because I kept trying, and she was trying to make me go away. She hates sex. She would have _hated_ it."

"I'm sure she knows." I tried to say.

"I loved her. I loved her so much." He was getting softer. Quieter. Reece's tears were still running fast but there was a heaviness in his chest now, his arms loosening. The alcohol was putting him to sleep. "She would have liked her. Selene. I scared her."

I didn't know what exactly had happened. Just that he'd lost his cool and some guy was in hospital. Reece was nearly asleep though.

"I'm sure she'll be okay."

"Looked at me like I was a monster." He shut his eyes, leaning against me, the crying fading but the heavy heaves in and out still there as he tried to breathe. "Scared her. Should have seen her face. I scared her. Daniella would have beaten me up for that. Not run. I ...don't know how to handle her. Someone who's ...who's not ...scary."

"I know. Daniella's probably somewhere waiting to hit you. We'll talk to Selene. Stop drinking first." The joke did what it was supposed to do. I saw his lips twitch, a sad smile there, and we sat there a long time as he fell asleep, leaning against me, his arms loosing their grip and flopping to his sides. I glanced up as the door opened quietly. Antonio came in, quiet, as Reece leaned against me, his breathing slowing.

"Found the beer?" Antonio said softly, Reece's head swinging up. "Come on. Let's go downstairs."

Reece nodded, I stood up, and he stood with some assistance from us. He was unsteady as Antonio led him away, leaning against him, barely able to keep his eyes open. Nick came back in with a wet cloth and we tried to clean up the beer, quiet, his hand brushing my arm as he caught the glint of dampness on my face.

"Remember. They're alive." He said quietly. "We just have to wait."

I nodded. He pulled me against him, nuzzling against my neck, and I let his warm scent close around me.

"I don't want one of us to go like that." I murmured against his neck, holding onto him, the two of us flopping down and pulled my legs across his lap.

"Neither of us are going anywhere. And we promised. No secrets." He nuzzled against me.

"We did." I reached up to stroke Nick's face, drinking it in as if it'd be the last time I saw it. He always took my breath away and that intense look he gave me, that look that scared me sometimes with how serious this was. It wasn't a fling. "Truth? You're incredible."

"So are you." He grinned, leaning down to nip my throat, his curls brushing my skin. "You're sexy."

"You reek of beer."

Nick tossed the smelling rag aside, rolling his eyes, and stroked my legs. "You want to try for that baby?"

"Not now." I shoved at him, smile fading, and I saw the humour in his face go. I knew he'd said it to be playful. But it was a bit soon. "Not for a few years."

He stroked my face. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking. I was just ...trying to hit on you. Badly." Nick sighed as the smile didn't return to my face. "Can't help it. You just have to look at me and I'm seconds from trying to get you in bed. When does the marriage slow us down?"

"When we have to take it into the spirit world." I muttered. When I smiled a fraction he grinned, and I couldn't help it, I relaxed and smiled back. "She said I was contracted to have this child."

"How about we try and have one for once? In a few years." Nick leaned back, relaxing against the wall. "Stop having surprise babies."

"Ten years. I know you didn't want them..." I muttered. Nick shrugged.

"Say you're never going to do something and that's what the fates do. Throw them at you. Remind you that it isn't your choice." Nick rolled his eyes. "Still... ain't complaining. You see what we can make? Our babies are _incredible_. We made them. I can't believe I could ever make something like that, led alone three of them. And then you come along with two more that are just as amazing. Nothing like the man who ...they're all _you_." He smiled somewhat, the love obvious, shutting his eyes. "So ten years. Agreed. I'll put it in my work schedule. Maybe for once we can plan it. Not just get another stork throwing one at us."

I laughed softly and he leaned down to kiss me, gently, pulling me closer. We sat there and after a while tried to clean up the beer, change the sheets, working together quietly, and flopped back into our bed when it was done. I lay there as sleep came back, aware of how lucky I was, gratitude flooding me for what Nick had come with. He was right. No matter how unexpected it'd been with him, however unplanned most of it was, it was all incredible. The problems were nothing.

I wished Reece could find it. Be happy. I leaned against Nick, shut my eyes, pain for Reece coming back.


	2. Adjusting

**See profile for character images... or just suggest some, or actors or whatever... I don't mind, love to see how people picture them. :) **

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

I went to find Reece after a few hours of trying to sleep. Truthfully, I was really worried about him, and even if he was drunk he was still a big teddy bear. A big unhappy one, sure, and one that had sent a guy to the hospital, but still... I didn't want to leave him alone in this.

Antonio glanced up as I came down into the basement, Reece locked up again, Antonio with a screwdriver and screws in his mouth. It looked like Reece had knocked the door free somehow, not a small feat at all with the incredible work put into keeping this thing secure, but apparently this hadn't bothered Reece's escape attempt in the slightest.

I sat down outside as Antonio repaired the door and came to sit beside me.

"So what happened?"

"Some idiots harassed Selene and stole her food. Reece was drinking nearby while I loaded the car, saw them setting her car on fire and snapped when ...it looked like one of them was trying to force her." Antonio's face twisted, grimacing. "I can't say I don't approve his actions. They're getting a bit much in town. They robbed her and tried to scare her from coming back."

"It's that bad?"

"You're safe with babies. No one would harm you. If they did, I-" Antonio scowled and glanced at Reece, who was on his back in the bed, snoring. "Like I said. I don't really care much about the one he nearly killed."

It was pretty cold of Antonio. But then, we'd had far too much experience with the bad side of human nature to care, and I had to admit I wouldn't have been gentle with them either. "Is she all right?"

"Reece scared her but she's unharmed. Hope and Karl are staying overnight with her. We took some food over for the stuff they stole, to Forestwatch, and she didn't want Alan to know. So we didn't tell him." Antonio's head met the wall as he leaned back, gazing up, a long deep sigh. "I'm too old for this."

"Yeah, really old." I muttered. "Old man. I should go over in the morning."

"Just don't take this one. He's going to have to stay here for a week, even with the change, Elena was not happy at all. We can't let him go back to town in case the friends reported him." Antonio shot Reece a look at that. "He attacked them too, they saw his face, so it was a bit of an incident."

"Ah, bugger." I sighed.

"Exactly."

We went quiet, watching the drunk idiot sleep, and I noticed the bruises start to appear on his knuckles. So he'd really gone for it, it seemed, and with the strength a werewolf had that was saying something. I doubted the hospital would be able to believe it was really a person who'd done it. I didn't tell Antonio why, what Reece had told me while he was in my room, but suddenly I saw that I might have to pay more attention. Watch him. Loosing his temper like that... it was not a good thing. He'd be lucky if she wanted to talk to him in a decade. And what if she was human, like Alan had said? A human and a werewolf couple was possible, Jamie wasn't physically strong like Jeremy, but then he hadn't tried charming her by smashing skulls half-drunk.

Antonio nudged me gently, his voice cutting through the quiet. "You need to worry about other things, Anne."

"Like nappies? Yeah. Already got them lined up for tomorrow." I seriously had. Lined up, positioned for quick unwrapping, the changing table organised like I'd never organised in my _life_. "Lunch and dinner defrosting in fridge. Clothes in dryer."

"No." Antonio smiled though, arm pulling me against his side. "Not that. Benicio Cortez has to speak to you about your obligations. Elena's making him wait for a while."

"Obligations?"

"Twins. Heirs to a powerful corporation run by one of the old powerful sorcerer families. The only ones, apparently." Antonio squeezed my shoulder as I groaned softly.

"Can't we wait till they're … talking?"

"Probably not. Business doesn't wait."

I groaned again. Art, babies, this was something I seemed to be okay with. Business. God, that sounded terrible. Boring. "What are they expecting?"

"I don't know. I can guess that you might be involved in running it on their behalf or may have to find someone to do it for you. I can't help you with that but I _do_ know about business. You can talk to me once he's gotten time to discuss it with you."

Reece snorted and fell off the bed, snored on, and we watched him without bothering to get up.

"They're big?"

"Apparently. I was going to let you know earlier but we've been a little..."

"Buried under nappies." I muttered. Antonio laughed softly and nodded. When I yawned, he nudged me, pushing me back up.

"Go sleep. I'm watching him." Antonio leaned back, settled against the wall, eyes going back to watch the sleeping drunk Australian. "He's going to regret it by the time Clayton and I are through with his hangover."

"Poor guy." I muttered, he smiled, and I held up my hands as he waved me away. "Okay. I'm going back to bed. If you need-"

"-We'll be fine. Reece needs punishment, not cuddles." He waved at me.

I sighed and left reluctantly. I wanted to cuddle him, Antonio was right, I wanted to cuddle and hug and love and … and maybe he was right. Getting drunk wasn't going to make this any better for him. Me giving him comfort and sympathy wasn't going to make him rethink it. I headed up and crawled back into bed beside Nick who hadn't woken and passed out.

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

We ate dinner together. Hope and myself. Karl took the toddler out to where his friends lived while we did. She tried to reassure me that the guy was fine, that Reece wasn't a drunken asshole, and made sure I was okay. Of course I'd been okay. That idiot that'd tried to scare me... well, okay. He had scared me. But we'd learnt some stuff in college and one of them was how useful a belt was for self defence. I'd nearly had it off my wrists and was more than happy to throw it around his neck and make him pass out. If that failed, whack him. If that failed, stab at his eyes with it. Belts were great for all those things. They weren't great for restraining someone unless you were holding the end and he hadn't been.

It wasn't him that really upset me. Not completely. My car- I'd only just paid it off. Alan's stuff I'd spent ages trying to collect. The food. The cards I'd been too freaked out to get. Hope reassured me that the older man had got them for me, Antonio, but I wasn't really keen on seeing him either. Not even her attempts at distracting me with the latest evidence that aliens had caused the disease could cheer me up.

She said they'd stay overnight here, Karl was coming back with their baby, so I set up the sofa for them while I got the kettle on. This was just a one bedroom cabin thing. It was tiny and good for me and it was now going to have to be good for three more. Apparently they could sleep with the kid so I didn't have to worry about that. And he was kind of cute. Three and a half years old, nearly four, and a monster except when he met his mother's eyes and suddenly ...he was an angel. A very tired angel slash monster who made them hurry to bed by ten.

Hope, Karl and their little one were asleep now in the living room by eleven and I sat in my bedroom in the one bedroom apartment, staring out the window, far too rattled to care about sleeping. I barely knew any of these people. Given my phone number to some guy who'd snapped and nearly killed that guy. I wasn't happy that he'd tried that but I had found a nice squishy wet bit of trash to shove in his face and run, sort of, I just wasn't sure what it was. But what if the Australian had killed him?

The idea repulsed me really badly. It really did. You thought you knew a guy then he turned around and became crazy manic with too much strength to be normal. There hadn't been any guilt in his face either when he'd chased me. None. Like punching guys was a regular night out for him. This entire place felt strange to me. Like it wasn't quite right. I hadn't exactly told Anne and Hope the truth. It wasn't just 'ghost owls' I saw. It was a lot of things. I felt them too, felt them crowd in on me as the year had gone past, and that thing on the beach had been the worst of it. I'd dreamed about it for months.

The more I spent time around Hope and Karl, the less they seemed normal to me. It didn't make sense. This didn't mean I didn't like them. I was still completely and totally starstruck by Hope. She was ..._incredible_. Living my dream job. But they were still 'not normal'. Whatever normal was supposed to be.

I groaned softly, running my hands through my hair, much too stung out to sleep properly. I hadn't even eaten. They had, especially Karl, but I just didn't feel like I could be bothered to eat.

Last night I hadn't dreamed of that thing on the beach. Or the night before. In fact, I hadn't dreamed of it since that woman had been killed, and while no one told me where she was, I knew that she'd been buried and left in the forest. The people that'd attacked us hadn't used knives, except for that one, they'd ...done other things. Things my brain didn't want to accept as fact and yet there it had been. It was like magic, like watching people use magic, while that thing straight out of my nightmares watched.

It was a lot to take in. Maybe this was why I'd just let Alan run me around all over the place for the last two weeks doing stuff for him. It exhausted me and I slept and then I did chores and ...no time to stop and think. Not even the sight of a big dog outside stopped me from collapsing into bed every night, even if it was a bit unusual, I was just too tired.

And the sight of that dead woman naked in the bath as they tried to clean the blood off her. The sight of a corpse. They'd all been so ...calm. Like they'd seen a corpse before. Why didn't they take her to the hospital? Why had they buried her in the forest?

She'd replaced the monster in my dreams now. That face. It was always that face, the blood, and the forest we'd left her in. Always. Sometimes I swore I saw her on the street, in the shop, in a car, and I felt like I was starting to go mad. This dead woman haunting me all over the place. Even on the drive back. For a second while staring out of the taxi tonight I saw it. Her face all over again, those green eyes burning into me, reflecting back where my face should have been. One blink and she'd vanished.

Was it my fault she'd died? Why had she run away? That man, Reece, he'd come back to help us. What if he had gone after her? I should have told him to go after her. I did feel guilty and responsible. I had almost been on the verge of telling them that I'd been dreaming about it when it came. Maybe I should have. But I had thought they'd think I'm crazy. 'You _saw_ a skin-walker? See you around some time' crazy.

I went for my laptop only to remember it'd been in the car. That'd burnt. I groaned softly, crawled into bed, and tried to will myself to sleep. It only took a hot shower, my heart pounding as I hoped I didn't wake the visitors up, to get my body to ease into a more relaxed state so I could sleep.

Alan woke me the next morning, coming in, caught between anger and worry and anger. I sat up, my eyes heavy, wondering what time I'd managed to pass out as he started to rant about cars and insurance and was I okay and where were the cards and money and...

"Coffee." I muttered. There it was, in the background, Hope sneaking in behind him as he ranted. "Thanks."

"You could have been hurt. Why didn't you call me when you were being followed?" Alan snapped. I knew he loved me, that was why he was like this, but I still hated it.

"Because it wasn't a problem. They left me alone for hours. Why didn't you help me get that stuff?" I snapped, blowing at the coffee, trying to get it to cool down so I could get it all down fast.

"I had to do things. Fuck. All that money."

Yeah, thanks. I came after it. I didn't say it but after being 'fired' yesterday I was tempted to. "It's got insurance."

"Lucky thing it does. Okay." He sighed, flopped onto the bed. "Okay. So I'll go get what you didn't while you stay here out of trouble."

"And do what?" I snapped. "I can't just sit here and stare out the window." Stay out of trouble. Like it was _my_ fault, yesterday, even though I had tried. I felt like a kid with Alan no matter how hard I tried. Every time something went wrong he went like this. He behaved like it was all my fault and I felt about as big as a two year old. It'd been so different at college on my own. I'd taken care of myself and felt great about it. Now I was back living with him and ...well, it was back to this.

"I don't know. Read a book. Watch TV. Clean." Alan replied, his eyes going over the room, and I saw it. He was flipping back into 'father' mode and away from brother mode. My mum and our dad had died ten years ago when he was nineteen and I had just turned nine. Alan had to study and care for me and work, and I knew it had been hard on him, but sometimes I remembered what it'd been like to _just_ have a brother. I missed that. I missed my mum and our dad. "You could clean this place. And I'll buy you another laptop." Alan added, quieter, glancing at me. "You can repay me when the insurance comes in."

The offer of a laptop felt like a little bribe, to not be so mad, and I replied stiffly, "Thanks."

"_Please_, Beth, don't go into any more alleyways." He added, glancing at me as he stood up. "Just stay put. I'll be back before lunch. Get up, okay? It's past nine."

I watched him leave, frowning, feeling somewhat responsible for what'd happened. Maybe he thought I was. I didn't know. Voices came from outside in the living room and as I got up and dressed I listened. He wasn't alone here.

"Is she awake?" The voice was Anne. I hadn't heard it for a while but it was pretty easy to tell from the Australian accent.

"Yeah. She'll be out in a second."

I got dressed a bit faster when I heard her stay and sit down. Hope was still here, I could her her on the phone outside talking to someone, but Karl looked like he had vanished again with the toddler. Funny how he kept going back to that place his friends lived.

Anne didn't barge into my room like my brother had. She waited and I came out to see her smile a quick tense smile. She looked like she hadn't slept either. The older man from the night before was there too but he smiled a friendly smile and I didn't feel quite as threatened by him.

"I came from Reece." Anne's eyes raised up for a second, like this annoyed her a little. "He's grounded."

"Oh." I sat down. Tried to not frown or anything but it didn't work. Her eyes went across my lips like she'd noticed the slight movement.

"Yeah. He was a bit of an asshole." She agreed. Rolled her eyes. "I found him in my room after. Look, I know he..."

"He beat someone up till they were nearly dead then attacked their friends, then came after me covered in their blood. A bit of an asshole is an understatement." I muttered.

She blinked, grimaced, and nodded. It looked like I'd shocked Anne a bit because she glanced at the older man. "Antonio said attacked you."

"I had it. He let go of my hands." I replied, sitting back, waiting for her to tell me it was my fault too.

"Okay. Yeah. But he wanted to say sorry. He was a bit drunk. That's not an excuse but … what he did, it's not what he's usually like. And if he gets like that, just slap him. Trust me. He's a big pussy cat who forgets that big can be scary." She wasn't happy, I realised, and it wasn't with me. Anne fidgeted as she tried to give the message. "He was trying to be scary towards them, I think. Argh. I didn't come here to make excuses for him. Just ...don't worry. We're making sure he knows he was stupid."

"Not me?" I couldn't help it. That feeling of 'stupid child' from Alan lingered. But I wished I hadn't said it when she looked at me like she wasn't sure what I meant.

"No, of course not. Why would we think you're stupid? There's some idiots in town making life hell for anyone they don't know. Antonio was ...well, after Daniella, we're trying to watch out for everyone here who's our friend. They were trying to put out your car and then Reece saw you weren't coming out, so he got a bit upset." She shook her head

"In fact-" The older man, Antonio, spoke up as he slid down into a chair beside us. "-It was partly _my_ fault. Reece wasn't supposed to be in town at all and I got distracted when I saw them robbing your car and setting it alight."

I wasn't sure what to say. "Um. That's okay. It was insured. Look. Seriously. Anne, what is going on?" The words came out before I could hold them back. After laying there last night, sleepless, wondering what the hell I'd seen... "You left her buried in a forest and there was something that looked like magic. That thing on the beach. No one's said anything to me. Even Alan won't talk about it."

She grimaced as Antonio blinked, staring from her to me.

"She saw all that?" He asked softly, smile there but no charm in his voice now, and she tried to wave it off. I suddenly felt like I wasn't supposed to have said anything, Anne shot me a 'quiet' look, like this wasn't stuff I was supposed to see. What was going on?

"She was there." Hope came back in as she put the phone away. "We're not sure. I'm investigating as best I can from here."

"It's not the first time I've seen it." I blurted it out before I could think. The three of them stared at me like a lunatic. "I mean. I've seen it before. In my dreams, I see it all the time, I haven't slept properly for months. Look, don't tell Alan, he'll take me to a shrink. But I swear. I'm not crazy. I'm tired and sleep deprived but I'm not crazy. And what was with Reece throwing that guy over five metres? Why haven't I seen him on the Olympics or something? Why isn't anyone explaining any of this? And what's with that dog that's been outside my house every fricken night? Or the owl? Or... _Come on_. I'm not a kid." I was still feeling like one though. I wanted to throw a tantrum, pitch something across the room and lock myself in the bedroom with a ton of chocolate. The worst part was that I was afraid it was all in my head.

That made Anne twitch, Antonio stiffening.

Hope's hand on mine cut off my babbling as she squeezed it. "No one thinks you're crazy _or_ a kid." Her eyes met Antonio and Anne's eyes, Antonio sighing.

"Elena's going to have to know." Antonio said quietly, his eyes meeting Anne's eyes, and she frowned. "Not much choice. She saw it all. She won't like that you hid it, Anne. Selene." He turned to me, using the name I liked, and for once I felt like it didn't fit. It felt like I was going to be lectured or something and Beth usually popped out for that. But all the older man said was, "Give me half an hour to get you some sort of answer." and he was striding outside and walking halfway down the street.

It was beginning to sound like the Mafia.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

One factor neither of I hadn't taken into account was Selene. I realised, as I stared at her, at the hair all over the place, dark shadows under her dark eyes, the healthy brown skin now an unhealthy pale color, that she too had more or less been left alone to sit with this for the past few weeks. She was about to crack.

She couldn't have been like this openly for two weeks. Hope would have contacted Elena straight away. But maybe Reece's stupidity had pushed her a bit too far. Suddenly we'd reached the point where we had to force her to forget, which apparently I could do but hadn't tried with hypnotherapy, let her know what was going on, or... the last idea, I didn't like it. And I felt like she deserved to be protected if Reece really had bonded to her like that. Like 'mates' should not only be allowed under Pack Law but protected like pack, even if they weren't allowed to be on the land or to know about us.

She sat there, her knees jiggling up and down, a cup of coffee sitting beside her where she'd forgotten it. Antonio spoke to Elena softly. This was a real problem. Alan knew about us and he'd never actually said she couldn't as well. He'd said she couldn't know about them.

I could believe that if Benicio Cortez knew about what she'd seen, the magic users, I wouldn't see her again. This didn't help the protective urge I was starting to get towards her. Reece's girl. Maybe it wouldn't happen for years but the wolf in me accepted it so easily, accepted _her_ so easily, that it shocked me.

"Okay." Antonio's voice made us all jump as he came back up at a jog. "Pack your things up. Elena thinks that if you saw it, if you saw as much as you did, that you should live with us while Hope investigates."

This was not what I expected. I blinked as Antonio's dark brown eyes met mine. So she was coming but she wasn't allowed to know? Or were we telling her there? I kind of felt like that wasn't it.

"My brother told... ah. Forget it." She flushed as the words cut off. "Forget that. Okay. I've just got a couple of bags, all the furniture came with the apartment. But it's on a contract."

"Given the attack, I'm sure I can convince your landlords to release you from it." Antonio's voice was smooth, calm, and I'd started to see that he wasn't as sweet or gentle as he acted. The landlords weren't going to be talked to. They were going to be given that smooth calm threat he did really really well, probably honed in business and pack intimidation alike. "Pack and come home. Hope's staying there, so is Anne, so you'll know a few people. Hope, can you put all the food and stuff in my car? No point wasting it."

She packed and I followed Antonio out to his car. He turned to me as we were out of earshot.

"She's coming back?" I asked softly and he nodded.

"We're going to lock the doors between Stonehaven and the newer half. Technically it's a house, it has four bedrooms, so you and Nick can stay in there with the kids in one room, Hope and Karl in another, Matt can sleep with Logan and Kate and she'll get a room to herself. We'll just make it clear that after dark she stays inside- we go hunting." He smiled a small tense smile as Hope came out to dump a box of stuff in the car. "And to stay in the newer half. Reece has to stay in the older part of Stonehaven so that probably won't be a problem for her."

"Might be for him. How are we going to hide this?" I said quietly. Antonio shrugged. "I mean, we've got ...habits."

"Which are now all going to have to happen in the old Stonehaven. It was Clayton who decided this when he heard what Reece told you last night. I only told him. Relax." He added, quietly. "He might tell Elena but he won't spread it around."

"Good. The last thing we need is for her to hear it from us." I muttered. She came out with her bags, all five foot three of her, and Antonio got the boot of the car open for her.

"What about cleaning?"

"I can do that as repayment for you letting us stay over so many times." Hope called, another box in her hands as she came out. "And eating your food. I don't mind. Any time on my own is good time."

I understood that. She got less time to think than I did- I had to work for the pack, do things, got out. Hope didn't get that as much. Having kids meant you had to become superwoman and suddenly evolve to never need sleep, have eyes on all four sides, and super stretchy arms to capture fleeing toddlers. One, three, still it was a lot to handle. We had to get back too. I'd been gone for longer than I meant to.

"Do you want me to pay board?" She asked, uncertain, and Antonio nodded.

"Not too expensive, I promise. But there's a few rules." He said softly, opening a door for her. "It's not far from where your brother's staying either. He shouldn't mind much."

I wondered about that. He knew what we were. It would probably bother him quite a lot but he'd just have to deal with it. Selene had seen so much, heard so much, that we had to think about how to explain what she'd seen. Any other human might have been able to accept some excuse we'd come up with. Selene had spent years thinking about the paranormal. Her brain couldn't do that.

"I can handle rules." Selene replied. She slid into the car and we headed off quickly once Hope locked up for her.

On the drive back I wondered what kind of answers we'd give her. She clearly expected them. But she was frazzled and stressed. Maybe she did feel safer with us, she lived in this apartment on her own most of the time, and if she had been dreaming of the skin-walker it couldn't have been easy for her at night.

Antonio gave her the rules as we drove back. Hunting happened at night, so she had to stay indoors when it got dark, just so she was safe. Or if she was going out to town, to let us know when. That Stonehaven was 'a different house', even though they were connected internally, so she had to knock on that front door like we now apparently all did. And that Reece was there but, he added fast as her eyes widened, he was more or less now in deep shit about getting drunk and behaving like that so she wouldn't see him for some time. I knew that was because he was in the basement for a week.

It was risky. It meant we'd have a little less freedom to be ourselves. It was the only thing that worked for now. I was surprised that Clayton had stood up for her safety, even if he did know she was a 'mate', but then he'd always been closer to his wolf than us. Maybe to a wolf the mating bond wasn't a small thing.

Selene accepted the rules easily. She reassured us that, with the kinds of dreams she'd been having and after what she'd seen, wandering around in the dark alone was the _last_ thing she wanted to do. A fire, a good book or a laptop, she was good. She didn't know how to cook but she'd help cleaning and didn't seem frightened when I warned her that there were three toddlers and two babies. Not too badly. But I had the feeling it was only fair to her to at least give her the main bedroom, if we were 'renting' it from Jeremy, so that she didn't have to deal with the crazy bathroom problems that came with the lot of us.

But she did mention not wanting to see Reece. I couldn't blame her for that. I didn't know how violent he'd been. Oh, I knew he'd been bad, I knew he'd used all his strength on a human, but to see the expression in Selene's face when she descried it... it really _did_ make him look like a monster. Bloody idiot. Why'd he chase her when he was covered in blood anyway? I did _not_ feel pity for his week long punishment. Grief for Daniella didn't mean he could loose his mind completely.

"Here we are." Antonio said cheerfully as he pulled into Stonehaven's gates. Electronic gates, security system, I saw her eyes go over it with interest. "It's got a lot of land. You much of a walker?"

"Not really." Selene admitted. "I get lost easily."

"That brings us to the next rule. Bush walks done with one of us. There's a lot of bush and no real trails, so people get lost easily. Anne's been here for three years and does okay. My brother, Nick, he's been visiting this place since he was six and he still gets lost." Antonio grinned back at me. "Needs Anne all the time. I hope the kids get her sense of direction."

I didn't know that. It suddenly explained why Nick usually went into the bush with one of us. He must have been trying to hide that little embarrassing fact from me. I grinned back, amused, and Antonio squeezed my leg.

"That, with the brown door, is the old Stonehaven. I say old, because it was there for a long time, but there was a fire a few years back. It's actually a new building based off the old one." Antonio got out, speaking lightly. "The new half is that one with the blue doors. Jeremy rents it to Anne right now and whoever needs a room. We haven't figured out a name for it, we just call it the new Stonehaven."

Selene gazed at the building. I saw suddenly how huge it probably looked. Two houses, side by side, connected in the middle. They both were designed to look the same age too.

Antonio led her inside as I carried her bags in. Hope started to take the food in behind us. "Where's she sleeping, Anne?"

"In the room with a bathroom, so she doesn't have to deal with the fight for it or the toddler stuff." I said lightly. Antonio nodded. "I need to clean it up a bit though."

"Good, because I'm taking Selene on a tour." He smiled and took her arm, always a gentleman. "Have you had breakfast, Selene?"

She shook her head and Antonio headed for the kitchen with her. "Good. I'm hungry. We'll eat, tour, I'll show you the garden. No rush. Nick and Clayton are next door so you've got some room to clean."

"I'm going to find some answers." Hope called as Selene glanced over her shoulder at her. "I'm in the study."

They vanished and I went for the clean sheets and linen in the laundry. The toddlers were next door, I heard them playing with Nick and Clayton, heard the twins nearby, my body easing as the mind reassured it that all was safe next door. Matt, Kate and Logan would be at school. It gave me a precious half hour to empty out our room, dump our things in the bedroom next to the baby room, change the sheets and clean the bathroom for her. It wasn't perfectly clean but ah well. Nothing around here was perfectly clean at the moment. This half of Stonehaven had become the 'kid central'. Hope's little boy was here, my three toddlers, the twins, so we were more or less distracted by things and cleaning didn't really happen that much.

Clayton came through the middle doors upstairs as I cleaned the room, glancing down as Antonio headed outside with Selene, his face tenser than usual. "Giving her this room?"

"The other bathroom's shared with a bunch of babies, toddlers and werewolves. Seemed like a good idea to give her some of her own space to stay in." I leaned back, dropping the horrible chemical shit, throwing it back into the cleaning box. "Antonio said you stuck up for her."

"If we took care of it, Reece would go. Ain't loosing more pack." He scowled slightly, crossing his arms, watching as Selene trod on his land. "She isn't too big, is she."

"You don't think she's his mate?" I joined him and watched them. She was pretty short compared to Antonio.

"Second time he's claimed it. I won't say yes or no." Clayton glanced sideways at me. "Saying no to an obsessed werewolf hasn't worked in the past. Elena. You. So we'll see how it goes. Reece wants to say hello."

"I'm not taking her into the basement. It might scare her off." I wondered what she'd think if she saw that.

"Might not be a bad thing to do that." Clayton muttered. Watched her. It wasn't really hostility towards her. It was our instincts, watching a stranger on our land, knowing she'd sleep amongst us. The few we'd let in who weren't Pack had spent years working up that trust to get here. Well, except for when we'd appeared, these female werewolves with nowhere to go. That may have been because Nick had already met me. "So the middle doors are gonna be locked from now on. Here's the key." He handed me a key and I slid it into my pocket. "She know the rules?"

"Seems okay with it. Apparently she's been dreaming about that thing so she's probably not interested in straying from the safe house." I hesitated. "Her brother might not be happy with this. He knows what we are."

"Yeah. Elena said that." Clayton's eyes stayed fixed on Selene until she vanished around the corner of the house. "Another good reason to keep her close. He won't run off with her here."

Oh. I got it now. It wasn't just to help her, it was to keep her here, keep her close to us, and at the same time, keep Alan and the 'skin-walkers' close too. I raised an eyebrow and he just stared passively at me like this wasn't underhanded.

"She's not gonna be harmed." He added, softer. "That's the last thing we'd want."

Alan turned up later, while I was showing Selene her room, and Elena talked with him next door before Selene could know he'd arrived. I introduced her to the triplets and twins to distract her and that worked till we saw him leave again, with Selene none the wiser about him, his face red. I wasn't sure if it was with anger or what. Just that he'd gone bright red.

Once that was done we tried to get back into the swing of things, trying to ignore the strangeness of having a human around us, while Hope did her best to keep Selene distracted and involved.

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

So I had a new home. A home that, in a way, was kind of nice. Friendly. The kids were cute, a little spoiled, but cute. When I'd been in college I'd shared a house with a couple and their kid, so this wasn't that new to me, just a bit overwhelming.

It was awkward though. I had this feeling that Stonehaven had secrets I wanted to see, which was driving me nuts as the days went past, even with the work Hope had me do. She got me a contact and I found myself actually working on an article for the paper she wrote for. Me, writing an article!

Three days after I got there, three kind of awkward days, I finally got a replacement car for the other one. This meant a lot more freedom and Alan put me right back to work.

This also meant that the dog returned. No one mentioned the dog I'd seen, hell, they weren't even discussing the monster thing. The only thing Hope kept me up to date on was those people we'd seen doing magic- where they'd been spotted. She agreed it was probably a skin-walker, she agreed that they worked for it, and so probably she figured that by watching the people she'd know where it might be. Right now it was somewhere in Texas.

I'd told them I wasn't going to go out in the dark. This ...may not have been the truth. Somehow the 'This is like the mafia' idea had stuck and I 'stayed in town' late. No one seemed to care, so long as I called as I was coming back, and as long as I pretended to believe the bullshit about hunting they were happy.

I knew they were up to something. Seriously, how obvious did they have to be? I'd been weeding the garden and caught a glimpse of that man, Reece, shimmy out of a tiny window to a basement. He didn't even notice me but I did notice that there was some kind of cage down there. The 'mafia' theory only got stronger when I saw that. Who had cages in their basements anyway?

I'd already been snooping around, cleaning, and with Anne overwhelmed with her mass of children, it wasn't that hard. They had so much food it wasn't funny. The 'off limits' part of Stonehaven had a second kitchen and the vegetable gardens were huge. This was how I got outside more- I was weeding, getting the garden beds ready for the winter that'd already started now, and seeing the Australian escape out of a cage with a wicked grin that made my chest hurt was just another tick in the 'Something odd's going on here'.

I thought he hadn't seen me anyway. I went back to weeding, eyes on the house, trying to pull the right green things out and leave the right green things in.

"That was a carrot. Poor carrot." The accent, smooth, came right from behind me. I stood up, spun around, and hit Reece square in the jaw with the top of my head. He grunted in pain, stumbling back, holding his jaw. "Ow. You're a fast mover."

He was different in the daylight, without blood and alcohol, that smile was back. That charm. It'd made me all squeamy and melty when he'd had it. Now I was kind of afraid of him. Reece lowered his head so his eyes fixed in mine with that same scary intense look he did, only _without_ blood all over his face, and he threw the 'carrot' I'd pulled out to one side as he stepped towards me.

"Sh." He held up a finger to his lips. Grinned. "I escaped."

"The cage?" I asked and Reece raised an eyebrow, nodded, and glanced back to the side of Stonehaven.

"Guess it's a bit obvious, huh." He glanced up as the door opened to the off limits part. "Come on. Got to talk with you."

He grabbed my hand and dragged. That strength, it was too much for me to stop him, and I found myself hoisted along like I was one of those three year olds in the house. I yanked at his hand hard, annoyed, the fear rising back up. He seemed like a nice guy but he was ...I didn't know. Too much. Like he was a coiled wire, all built up, all energy that wasn't going anywhere.

"Stop it, stop forcing me."

That stopped him. Reece let go of my hand like I'd stung him.

"I didn't ...sorry." He grimaced as I rubbed my red hand, staring at it. "I keep forgetting you're ...not well, that I'm a bit strong."

"That we're not all superman?" I stared at my poor hand. Ow.

"I wanted to apologise to you. Not do that. Let me look." Reece grasped my arm, his grip suddenly gentle, and this time I could have pulled away. I didn't. I let him inspect the damage, his fingers running over the red skin, the sensation sending shivers down my spine. "Bloody hell. You're so delicate."

"Yeah, thanks." I muttered. He reached out for my other hand. Then he seemed to remember that it was still in a plaster. I'd forgotten till now, to be honest, except a vague acknowledgement when dressing, I'd been so focused on the mystery of this place and the mystery of the attack and... but now it suddenly itched annoyingly. It wasn't that bad. It was just a fracture and it no longer hurt, I could carry things, use it, it was just annoying to have this stiff plaster on my lower arm.

"It's a good thing. I like it. Look, I had to say sorry. I was just angry that he'd try and hurt you. It sort of made me a bit mad. I don't usually do that." He frowned, let go of my arm and scratched his head. "I don't have much respect for guys that try and use their strength to hurt people."

"I got your friend killed." I muttered. His face darkened and his grip tightened, just a bit too much, but he quickly let go again. "It's me that should be sorry. I should have been able to handle a few idiots."

"No, not ones like that. Even I couldn't handle them on my own. Daniella..." For a moment, my fear and annoyance at his rudeness faded, because the word did something to him that made my own chest hurt, this kind of despair I'd honestly not seen since my brother and I had been orphaned. "She could have come to us. She didn't."

"Why is she buried in the forest?"

I wished I hadn't asked when that expression returned. Reece didn't answer. He let go of my hand, his own tightening so hard the knuckles went white, then caught sight of my gaze on it and he tried to stop it.

"Sorry." I muttered. "No one's telling me anything. I keep seeing her in my dreams. All of it."

"I see her too." Reece admitted, softer, leaning against a tree. "She had a hard life and I think she might have preferred a forest to be … I think it was a nice place for her."

He knew her. I didn't. Was that why they'd buried her there?

"It isn't just dreams." I heard myself saying, saw him listening, eyes fixed in mine as if everything I could say, everythign I did say, was the most interesting thing he'd ever heard. Like he was trying to memorize it. Again my breathing quickened as his eyes fixed in mine with that intense stare, his nostrils flaring, his body shifting up a bit higher. "I see her awake too."

"Awake?" He asked softly. "Where?"

"Just on the street. Sometimes in a reflection." I said it quietly, expecting him to laugh or frown at me like Alan would, but nothing. It was like he believed every word I was saying and it was a relief. I felt less nutty all of a sudden. "I mean, I really …"

"How does she look?"

"I don't know." I tried to think, tried to remember. "Mostly, she's just staring at me, like she's trying to get me to see her. Like you are right now. Really intense stare."

Reece stood up and gestured for me to follow him, holding out his hand, and I reluctantly took it. But he didn't drag me, didn't crush my hand, he was being surprisingly gentle. I might not have gone with him if I hadn't seen that despair. Maybe he wasn't an asshole. Alan had been mean when our parents died. It took him a few years to stop blaming me.

He led me into a clearing some distance from the houses, right up to a river, and Reece flopped onto a log that was right up against the water. "Can you see her in the water?"

I went over to it and stared. No, I couldn't. "I don't see it." I glanced back, expecting him to suddenly burst out laughing and tease me, but no such thing happened. The smile had faded, the shadows there in his eyes again, and he patted the spot beside him and I sat down.

We sat there, watching the river, the air heavier, awkward, like there were things that were supposed to be said. Neither of us said them. I wasn't even sure what they were. My heart was racing a bit more though. It was difficult. I kept thinking of the warmth of his hand, it was overshadowing the blood, the rage in his face as he'd charged at me, and I kept wanting to just forget it like I'd never seen him like that. But wasn't that what battered people said?

"Why did you chase me if you weren't angry with me?"

" I wanted to ask you something." Reece said softly, his eyes on mine in the reflection in the water, watching me.

"What?"

"I want to date you."

The words hung in the air from Reece, his breathing a bit faster, and when I turned to look at him, I actually saw fear in his face. Shyness. Uncertainty.

"Why?"

"I want to spend a lot of time with you. Make you a girlfriend. Maybe marry you if you 're into that sort of thing." He said, so plainly, so calmly, and then stared at me with that intense look. That frightening look that sent thrills right down to my feet. "I hear dating's the normal way to start."

"You don't know me." I stared at him, stunned, and ...I didn't know. The first time I'd seen him in the store, blonde curls, big grin, I had to admit it'd sort of struck me with how damn good looking he was. How I'd like to do things with him I hadn't really done with anyone, images of ...I didn't know.

"I'm a werewolf." As if the marriage part wasn't a big enough bombshell, he struck me with this, his eyes meeting mine. No joke there, nothing, just this serious expression. He continued, the accent getting thicker as that awkward shy look increased on his face, "I know you. I want to date you, marry you, I want you to like me. The dating part. I only ever dated Daniella. I don't know how to do it but ..."

"You're a what?" I stared at him. Dating, marriage, he was a werewolf? And I was worried that I was mad. "Is there a reason they put you in the cage?"

"Look. Sit here and I'll show you." He stood up. Stripped. "I'll be right behind you. Don't look. It's a bit weird looking." I flushed as he threw a top at me, winked, and strode past me.

"It is?"

"_It_ isn't. But the change to wolf is. Five minutes and it's done." He continued to strip, my cheeks going bright red, the reflection not hiding a thing from me. I saw the way his back, all muscle, curved down into his the jeans … I had to shut my eyes for a moment. There was movement behind me. "You can open them again. I'm kneeling. I have my pants on. I just needed my shirt off."

"This is mad." I muttered. "If you're touching yourself..."

"Five minutes and I'm done or you can call the shrinks on me. I know you believe in them." Reece popped his head up, adding, "Will you date me if I am one?"

"I … hadn't said yes to dating you before. Just because I like Twilight doesn't mean I go strange for men pretending to be werewolves." I muttered. Flushed. I knew he'd probably seen twilight under my head. Why hide it?

"Twilight? Exactly how it is. I see you, I know you, I want to date you. Like Jacob and the baby. Except … I have intentions far less pure." His words made me jump and I almost glanced back, almost, but Reece cut me off. "Yeah, yeah, grown man. Watching the films. Let me concentrate."

My cheeks went redder as the words 'far less pure' echoed around my head. Shut my eyes a moment. He was in pain, suddenly, I heard it.

I saw her, suddenly, when I opened my eyes. The woman Daniella standing across the river, watching us, as plain as day. She watched and I watched her. The entire time he grunted, groaned, whined, she stood there, staring at us.

"I see her right now." I said quietly. Almost glanced back, almost, but she shook her head hard. Then she strode right across the river.

"He doesn't see me. Don't look. He hasn't done this much and he might get stuck if he doesn't concentrate." She spoke quietly. There was a kind of sadness there, as she stared at him. "Okay. Look now. He's done."

I looked, tearing my eyes off her, and the second I did she was gone. He was there, standing up, a triumphant look on his face as he held up an arm.

An arm?

It wasn't an arm. It was a leg. A fucking hairy leg coming from midway down his arm. With a claw on the end. Yellow-tan fur, like his hair, the paw wriggling, Reece gazing down at it. "It takes practice to do this. First time I did it properly. I can turn completely."

"Why the hell are you … what is that?" I stood up, nearly tripping over the log, and he grabbed at me before I fell into the river.

"I told you. I want to date you. Or, I'm going mad. I don't really care." He laughed, a desperate laugh, the grief coming back into his face. "You saw her again?"

"She told me …" I was going mad.

"She spoke?" His eyes narrowed, suddenly he was staring around the clearing, trying to find her, attention gone from me. Reece spun around, staring. "Where? Where is she?"

"I don't see her now. She said you don't see her and you might get stuck." I stared at the paw, stared at it as if I could see through the trick, reaching up to touch it. He flinched a moment, relaxed, the muscles shifting under my hand. Muscles. Bones. Blood veins pulsing. The paw intact, claws extending and retracting as I explored. "Holy fuck. That's real, isn't it?"

"Werewolf." He agreed. Then he inhaled sharply, his head swinging around, spinning around. "Shit. Clay..."

"You're a fucking idiot." A soft snarl came from nearby, Reece standing up, the older man striding into the clearing. "What the hell, Reece?"

"She's seen the skin-walker in her dreams, she sees ghosts, she sees Daniella. She isn't human." Reece moved to stand between me and him.

The blonde man strode forward, Reece stiffening, backing up against me. I saw his 'paw' and arm mutate, saw the bones shift, the muscles, the fur, heard him hiss with pain, and … somehow it bothered me less than 'Clay' who'd caught him. It was strange. I felt like I was in danger. It wasn't making any sense but the man, this man that'd stared at me for the past week, he was dangerous. I sensed it. Suddenly the look Reece had given me, the blood all over his face and fists, he may have as well been a naughty boy compared to this man.

"Who told you that?" He drawled, eyes darting to me, no friendliness or attempt to pretend at it. He didn't like me.

"I overheard it and she told me just now." Reece glanced back at me. "You know what she is."

"Yeah, heard you say that about Daniella. You forget our rules?" The man said, soft, stepping closer, and while Reece was a fraction taller, this man made him look feet shorter. My heart sped up, skin crawling, I was afraid somehow. A hand came back to rest on my shoulder, Reece's hand, pulling me against his leg.

"We didn't want to have to do this. Elena wanted their help." The man said, quietly, and Reece stiffened. "This is your fault, Reece. Couldn't wait."

"Then don't do it."

"Don't have much choice. Move." The growl, the low deep growl, it was scary. The hostility in his face as he stared at me through Reece's arm... and then his fist met Reece's head, knocking him back into me, the big guy falling back. I stared at shock at Reece, his body falling, eyes rolling back. The hit. It'd been so sudden, so violent, that suddenly Reece wasn't the scary one.

"Fucking idiot." The blonde man hit him again, hit him hard, nearly knocking him into the river. "You."

The blue eyes caught me again, like I was a mouse caught by a snake, freezing me. Scaring me. I nearly pissed myself with that stare alone. Suddenly he was grabbing me, and I was dragged along behind him, trying to tug myself free, only for his hand to dig in harder. I bit it, bit it hard, the man swearing and releasing me. I got about five metres before I was grabbed, struggling, trying to yell... for help, for Hope, for Anne, I didn't know, for someone. Clayton's hand closed over my throat, cutting off my yell, his arm tightening around me as he squeezed hard. No one was coming. We were alone in the forest, his arm like an iron vice around me, no one was nearby...

My lungs screamed, screamed for air, thrashing against him. It felt like hours, hours of agony, fear, knowing that I was about to die and there was nothing to do about it...and then I couldn't stay awake.


	3. Bonds

**Anne**

Antonio drove fast, Nick in the back with the triplets, and me sitting there restlessly jiggling my legs up and down. Bloody hell. Reece had done something stupid again, something so stupid that even I was taken back by how careless and thoughtless it was.

"You're sure he did it?" I asked, eyes meeting Antonio's eyes, and he nodded. Frowned. Glanced back to Nick as Nick just sat there. "She all right?"

"Clayton had to knock her out. Not like that-" Antonio said, when I inhaled sharply, "-but he had to cut off her airway till she had passed out. Jeremy's got her sedated and is using an ice pack on her throat to get the swelling back down."

"No chance of just talking to her?"

"She panicked. Clayton is a bit scary at the best of times." Antonio's lips tightened. "This is why Elena likes to send him to do intimidation. Not to be diplomatic."

I nodded, distracted, and waited impatiently to get there. The drive seemed to stretch out.

Clayton was waiting outside when we got there.

"I left Reece in your room. Figured a cage was a bad first date." He didn't smile. "Go on down, I'll get them out." Clayton moved past me to take Lily, his face softening as she called his name, but he glanced back at me. "Reece was a bit drunk again."

Oh, _bloody hell_. For a moment I squeezed my eyes shut, frustration flooding through me, and I headed inside to go down into the basement.

The frustration with Reece vanished when I saw Selene asleep inside the cage. The door was open, Jeremy glancing up at me as he sat there with Hope, but the bruises on her neck made me feel annoyed all over again.

"She panicked. Was screaming about cages and for us." Hope's eyes met mine. "She must have seen it."

"Yeah." I sat down beside her, brushing the hair out of her face, gentle. She looked totally scared out of her head, even now, even sedated. I'd forgotten what kinds of faces Clayton could do. This must have been a shock after Reece had waved a paw at her. She'd already been so stressed that her mind was snapping a week ago, this was why we'd wanted her here, and that might have just made it worse for her.

"Reece apparently asked her out on a date and suggested he'd like marriage." Jeremy's eyes rose to mine. His lips twitched, a faint amusement under the concern, and he added, "You might want to talk to him about how to attract someone."

"If he was drunk then he's probably got the charm of a skunk." I sighed. Last time he'd been really drunk, he'd been in my room and trying to hit on me. It had been the least attractive thing I'd ever seen. "When will you let her wake up?"

"In a few hours when she can talk again. The swelling's going down. But Anne. Pack law is pretty clear about what happens when a human finds out." Jeremy's eyes fixed in mine. "We're going to have to decide toda-" His voice cut off as his eyes swung to the stairs behind me and I turned to see Reece standing there, again having escaped his ropes, staring at Selene's bruised neck.

"I'll take him back up." I stood up, stroked her hand briefly, and went to drag Reece behind me back up the stairs. He'd hidden the smell of alcohol with cologne, something that'd burn into his nose as much as mine, but I smelt it under the stench of chemicals. Reece didn't resist me. He followed, hand tightening around mine, baring his teeth slightly at Clayton as Clayton raised an eyebrow at him.

I didn't know how to help him. I didn't know how to be with this kind of grief, this kind of grief that made someone usually thoughtful and affectionate become blunt and stupid. I led him into our little bedroom and locked the door behind us. Nick was already there, waiting, rolling up the rope Reece had escaped from. Getting it ready for the next round, I guessed, trying to help me with this.

"Reece."

"Hey." He grinned, held out his arms, and leaned against the door.

Nick threw a pillow hard at Reece. "You better have gotten a date out of this for us to miss our lunch."

"Reece, come here." I took the rope from Nick and went up to Reece, stroking his face, letting him kiss me as I tied up his wrists all over again. Yuck. Cheap Australian beer. The guy was really going to give us a bad name if he kept this up. The warmth of Nick's chest met my back as he moved behind me to help me get the ropes right.

"She said she sees Daniella." Reece said against my neck, soft, and I froze.

"Where?" My mind jumped to the skin. The skin that'd been taken. Elena had been forced to stop handing out free cures for the past three weeks. She hadn't said anything to me yet but I doubted this was going down well with the supernatural world.

"In her dreams. In reflections. In the clearing." He leaned against me, breathing a bit harder, struggling to talk. When I knelt with the rope to tie up his ankles, he grinned, probably seeing another advantage to this position. "Do you want..."

"No." Nick said from over my shoulder. "Not while you're drunk. That was one of the rules."

"Fair enough." Reece tried to hold up his hands,, but they were now attached to his ankles. "You won't let them kill her, will you?"

I didn't answer, just lifted him up and dropped him onto our bed, Nick helping. Now, now that he was safely tied up, I could let him have it. I flopped onto the bed beside him, sitting there. "What the hell, Reece!" I snapped at him. Reece blinked and grinned sheepishly at me from where he'd been dumped in our bed. "Seriously. What did you do!"

"I thought you were going to get rid of her. So I told her I wanted to date her, marry her and that I was a werewolf." He said, very straight forward, trying to sit. "When can I see her again?"

"God. Is this how you pick up chicks?" I had this sudden vague sense that maybe this was why I'd never seen him date anyone. It wasn't just because he was fixated on Daniella. He was also ...strangely clingy.

"Well, I did tell Daniella more or less the same thing." Reece admitted. "But it was different."

"How? You didn't blurt it out?"

"I _didn't_ blurt it out. I informed her that she'd killed a carrot, apologised for being a jerk, discussed Twilight, then suggested that we date." He shrugged, sat up, trying to reach for his head. Reece added, practical, calm, like he wasn't sure what hte fuss was about, "Then let her know I might like to marry her and that I was a werewolf. I did put it in the right order."

I groaned again, couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that I'd never seen how ...how... clueless this man was. Okay, I'd seen it in bed with him, this funny awkwardness and Nick's instructions maybe seriously guiding him. And Twilight? I didn't even know Reece knew about those movies. I wanted to hit him again for it, for even knowing that word was connected to a story, I wanted to … I had a husband for this. I grabbed for Nick, dragging him forward, literally pushing him at the bound idiot on our bed. "Nick, do something about this."

Second I had I knew I'd asked the wrong person. Nick? Had proposed to me in three days. Maybe he was a little more tactful, sort of, but he wasn't exactly the king of it. Clayton? Had apparently bitten Elena when Jeremy tried to get rid of her. Now Reece had done something more or less equally as stupid. I loved him, he was my best friend, but ...what the hell! Were all werewolves driven by 'instinct' instead of 'thinking'? Maybe _Jeremy_ was the best person for this.

No wonder why Daniella had acted claustrophobic. Bloody hell. Argh. Nick just stared blankly at me.

"What's wrong with being upright and honest?"

"Besides scaring off every woman you meet? Come on. You can't tell me that you told every woman you met that you just wanted to sleep with her and never see her again, did you?" I felt like I was going crazy, like I was the only one besides Clayton and Elena who got that what Reece had done was stupid.

"Well, yeah. I did." Nick blinked at me.

I was in love with two socially challenged men. The realisation struck me as I stared at their blank faces, the confusion in both pairs of eyes, and I stormed out to find understanding in Clayton and Elena.

They didn't look surprised to see me. I flopped down in the study as they spoke softly about what to do about this. Killing her wasn't the best choice. Killing her meant that we severed any chance of getting assistance from the skin-walkers and with one wandering around, this was not a good thing.

"Clayton, how did you get Elena?" I blurted out.

He blinked at me with that same 'What?' expression Nick'd had. "I got to know her over a few months and proposed to her. How else?"

"How many months?"

"I don't know. Six or seven. Right?" His eyes met Elena who nodded. "Why?"

"I think you better be the one to teach my boys about instinct and women." I muttered. That made him laugh, relax, and reach over to hug me against his side. How mad. All these men, and none of them had a clue about how to approach a woman they wanted for longer than a few days. All except for Clayton who'd apparently only dated one woman, Elena, and had gotten her. Not smoothly, he'd done some pretty stupid things, but he'd gotten her. Antonio had, sort of, but then he'd also gotten her pregnant and eloped with her. Maybe that was the best way at the time. Now?

I still couldn't believe Reece had said that to her. He'd been a little drunk too. Maybe he was drinking more than I'd realised. I couldn't see him ever having been this stupid before Daniella... not even by half. He had usually thought things through a little more than this. And when it came to drinking, no matter what the Australian sterotype was, he wasn't a drinker.

"I think Antonio has to talk with him." I added, quieter. It wasn't just what he'd said to Selene. If that was the only problem then it'd be okay, then I wouldn't feel so uneasy, but I did. Something about this was wrong. The drinking, the strange behaviour, and even if Selene was his mate- he'd decided this before Daniella got murdered- the attachment to her was a bit much. If she was then he'd loose her before he got her. "He's getting reckless."

"Think you might be right there." Clayton muttered. "Endangering a human, drinking, you smell that shit on his breath? Ain't sure who he is right now. Wasn't like this when we met him."

I didn't blame Clayton for what he'd had to do, to get Selene to calm down, even if it looked drastic now. Jeremy wasn't impressed. She'd panicked though, she'd apparently not even heard him say he was just going to talk with her, screeching something about cages and help. She must have seen the cage. Or maybe the punch to Reece's head had scared her. She had been close to snapping.

"Reece seriously showed her his paw?"

"Yep." Clayton scowled. "She looked shocked enough about the proposal."

"Bloody hell. He said he thought you guys were going to get rid of her."

"We _were_. We'd arranged to rent a house just outside Stonehaven across the road for Karl's family and for Selene." Elena rolled her eyes, leaned back against Clayton, and grabbed a sheet of paper from the desk nearby. "Not literally get rid of her. But she's a perceptive kid looking for the supernatural in a house full of them. Keeping her here was just till we could get her somewhere close and safe. Anne, I want you to try and remove that memory."

I didn't nod. I hesitated, self-doubt rising up, as she stared at me as if she fully expected me to do exactly what she asked. "Re... I don't know if it'll work. I've never done it for that purpose."

"No time like now to try." Clayton squeezed Elena's side and stood up. "Better she forgets than the alternative. Reece." The growl made me flinch and I turned to see Reece hopping past us, still bound, hop-hop-hop in the direction of the basement. There was a sudden crash, a curse, and I went out to see Reece had tripped over a wheely bear toy. One I suspected Clayton had thrown in his path, because Clayton seemed pretty satisfied with this. He prodded Reece in the side. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah." Reece grabbed Clayton's foot and yanked him hard, throwing him off balance, trying to stand up as Clayton fell on his ass.

Elena pinned him down with a foot.

"Reece, you're already in trouble."

"A little more can't hurt then." Reece inhaled as her foot dug in, face going white, and I heard the distinctive crack of a rib and Reece inhale sharply, face drained of blood, "_Elena_!"

"I don't want to break a leg, Reece." She knelt beside him, reaching down to lift him up, sighing softly. "I don't want to punish you. I know you're having a hard time about Daniella."

Reece flinched at the name. "She sees her."

"Even more reason for you to stay away. You think she's your mate? Then stop being an ass. You've got years." Elena prodded the spot where she'd probably fractured or broken a rib, and he hissed sharply, his eyes squeezing shut. "Not hours. You will if you keep this up. We need you to help us keep the pack safe."

"You got everyone else for that."

"Reece, we've had over three hundred and sixty two threats in the past week because we're refusing to hand over the cure. Because we don't want Daniella to be used like a coat." Her voice was soft and even, but there was this look in Elena's face for a fraction of a second. "We need everyone for this. All pack. This isn't a time you can fall apart."

"Three-"

"Clayton, snap him out of it and bring him into the study. I want him to have each one read each one out to him." Elena cut me off. She had a job to do, a wayward wolf to discipline, and apparently a week in the cage wasn't good enough.

Clayton nodded, hoisted him up, and broke the ropes. "You mind if I spend a few hours, darling? Going to take a little while to sweat that shit out of his body."

"Go ahead."

I got it suddenly. What he was going to do, how he was going to 'snap him out of it', and felt relief. Clayton dragged him outside and into the forest. He was going to do what he'd done to me. Beat him up, make him work, and hopefully... get him back into being able to think.

"Anne, come on." Elena touched my arm. "I suppose you better read them too."

I followed her into the study and started to read the printed out emails. Every single one. Some were sharp and to the point. Some less so. Elena had ten to a folder, each with details of who'd sent it, what information she could get, or where it'd come from. This must have been what she'd spent all her time doing for the past three weeks. Getting information on who wanted to kill her. I knew she'd been the one to do the files on mutts, that she was organised like this, but this was pretty heavy work.

"Rose sent a threat?" I stared at the name, sudden, eyes meeting Elena's eyes. It was strange that she would. She'd been connected to the person giving out the cure. Promiced us the cure too, though she'd apparently ended up stealing the twins again, so why would she threaten us?

"Someone from the address she's in. IP means that we're only able to go off who pays the bill. She has a number of employees." Elena replied. She was sipping coffee, looking a bit green all of a sudden, as she went over something on the computer screen.

"What is it?"

"Nothing much. I think the smell of that cologne on Reece is a bit much for me." She scowled as she tried to ignore it. Now that she mentioned it, it was lingering a bit too much in the air, those chemicals. Elena got up and opened a window. "Do you know how much he's been drinking?"

"No."

"Neither do we. He hides it." Elena glanced at me. "You're close to him. I need you to take over his money for a while. Keep him close and watch him. Antonio's got to work still and we don't need Reece getting alcoholic on us. How is Nick coping?"

"He seems okay. Why?"

She nodded, distracted, attention back on the computer. "How about you?"

"I … I'm okay. Worried for everyone else." I swallowed. "Don't have time to think about it."

"When you need to, tell me. Let me know you need a while." Jeremy's voice came from behind me, soft, and he came across as Elena searched the emails on her screen. A hand squeezed my shoulder. "There's no shame in being sad. Just give us some warning so we know. A note, a letter, a text, if you can't talk. That's what family is. We're there when someone needs to be helped for a while."

"I'm really fine." I insisted. "Worry about them. Can I help you with this? Or anything?"

Elena's head shot up. Apparently so. She nodded and started to print pages off. "_Yes_. I'm printing off emails and the information we got, the IP address and who pays for it. Before you try changing that memory, can you read each of these and mark them if you recognise any names?" Elena threw me a pack of little sticky bookmark things in a handful of colours. It already had 'blue for unknown mutt', 'red for known mutt', and so on. I didn't know a lot of mutts but she opened a filing cabinet and gave me that as well.

Jeremy sat down beside me as I started to read through the two dozen or so emails again. I had to take a break minutes later as Nick called that the twins wanted me, and while I wasn't sure that they could speak yet, he was right- they quietened down when I held them. I ended up sitting in the study with them lying in front of me, playing, their eyes coming to me every few seconds. Then the triplets wandering in not long after. Jeremy sat in the corner and read to them while I tried to read the emails.

"Quite a few from the Cabal." I noticed that in the files she'd already sorted, the 'Green for Cabal-net' labels were sticking out quite a bit. I had to guess this meant it was emails from their employee internet. Companies usually had their own one.

"Yes, I sent those to Cortez to look into. There's about thirty in the files we've sorted." Elena nodded. "Speaking of him. He's very insistent on speaking to you."

"To me?" Ah. It was about the twins.

"Afraid so. I've been holding him off but he's determined. Can you speak to him tonight?" Elena turned to me.

"Today?" Wow. How was he even getting in the state? "I suppose so."

"He's offered to get the last elders in, in exchange for a meeting with you." She smiled an apologetic smile. "I had to make that call."

"Fair enough, I guess." I wasn't going to ask her to ...I didn't know. Tell him to bugger off and wait another month, another six months, for these elders to come. Maybe this was why she'd had me search through the filed threats, so she could see why she wanted them here faster.

I went back to reading, she went back to reading, the two of us scouring over them for familiar names or mutts. And play with twins. And pacify triplets. And change nappies. And get them something to eat. And try and convince them to nap...

Finally Elena gave up trying to multitask. "Where's Nick?"

"He was trying to work." Jeremy muttered. "I'll get him. He'll have to do it after they're in bed."

He headed off, bribing the triplets to follow him, the three of them not sleepy and not wanting to nap.

Finally, Jeremy had to call Nick back and Nick had to put off work till later that night, because we weren't getting anywhere. Once the triplets were gone, the twins carried off with Antonio, we managed to get back to reading the new emails that'd come that day, handing around the dossiers in the study, marking them with colors. Yellow was for 'unknown' and pink was for 'dead'. The sad thing was that most of them were unknown. We didn't know all the supernaturals. The mutts were the majority though, thankfully, which wasn't too big a shock. Elena was the Alpha of the only pack and they were all currently still 'sick' and weak while the Pack was all cured.

"We've had several people from Rose's employees." Jeremy commented from where he sat beside me, sorting the marked pages into files. What a crazy day. Sorting death threats and other threats into 'files'. Reece blurting out he wanted to marry some poor girl who was probably still afraid of him. And it wasn't over. Apparently Cortez was having a meeting with me as well.

Some part of me just wanted to curl up in bed.

Clayton returned, breahting heavy, stinking of sweat. Reece wasn't far behind. He looked a bit sheepish and glanced at us with eyes that, I realised suddenly, were actually clearer than I'd seen them for days. Weeks. He was bruised, beaten, limping, blood trickling from a split lip, but it looked like he'd at least gotten some good blows back to Clayton. Clayton looked a bit bruised too.

"Sorry." He muttered. "I think I'm drinking too much."

"Damn right you are." Clayton snarled softly. "Go get it. Bring it out. All of it. The shit you were waiting to throw out in town, bring that out too."

All of it? I watched Reece vanish. Then he started to make trips back, over and over, dumping slabs of beer on the ground where Clayton pointed. Not just a few. There was a lot of it, a serious lot, and then a garbage bag that tinkled like it was completely full of empty metal cans.

"How's the sorting?" Clayton asked, sitting beside Elena, pulling her against him for a hard kiss. It was kind of rare to see it in public, that sort of affection, but he ignored us as he grasped her face and kissed her.

"Almost done." Elena smiled at him, reaching up to wipe the blood off his face, and his face softened as their eyes met properly. "How bad was it?"

Clayton muttered something like 'Twilight and beer every night', looking disgusted, and Elena laughed, his eyes snapping to the doorway as Reece returned with another couple of slabs and another bag of cans. "You sure that's it?"

"Not quite." Reece avoided my eyes. He looked more and more ashamed, as he stared at the pile, looked more and more like he just wanted to hide under the house in the basement and never return. He was gone for another few minutes and then dropped harder stuff down. Tequila. Vodka. Another Vodka. Rum. A cask of wine. "There."

"Give Anne your cards." Elena said softly. "All of it. I want her to be in charge of what you eat and drink for the next six months."

Oh, bloody hell. As if five babies under five wasn't hard enough. But this was an order from my Alpha and I carefully put the papers to one side as Reece came over, sheepish, handing me the cards and money and his wallet. His eyes finally met mine, saw the disbelief in them, and he grimaced.

"Okay. Anne, you take him and make him pour it down the sink." Elena said, her eyes meeting mine. I wondered why me, just for a second, before I got it. I was 'addicted' to something else. This wasn't just a lesson for him. It was for me too.

"The files?"

"Clayton can clean up and finish." She gently pushed Clayton up.

It took Reece half an hour to get the alcohol poured down the sink, the cans dropped into bags, the bottles making him inhale slowly as he saw the money spent on it just fade away into nothing.

"You've been drinking this much?" I asked quietly as he watched the alcohol go with that pained expression.

"I didn't want to worry you." Reece muttered. He tried to smile. "I just ...it helped. You had problems of your own. Nick wouldn't like me ...clinging."

"Never too many for you, you idiot. I'm sure Nick would never think you're being clingy." I reached up to hug him against me, pulling him close, Reece's body shuddering as the warmth of my body merged with his. I felt his lips kiss my neck, trembling, his fingers spread through my hair as he held me close against him.

Another body came to join us. Nick? It smelt like it, his body coming to snuggle against my other side, and when Reece muttered, "What the hell do you want?", Nick laughed softly.

"Thought you two were about to start up. Didn't want to miss out." He kissed my neck and stepped back. I doubted that was seriously it. Nick sat up on the bench. "If you need to talk then come in and talk. We weren't _just_ borrowing you for cuddle time. You need a friend, come get her."

Reece nodded, swallowing a lump, and started to pour it down a little faster, accepting my hand when it came to find his.

"Do you think you're addicted?" I asked quietly as he started on the last 24 slab box.

"I don't know." Reece muttered, tearing each out of the cardboard, and tipping it down the sink. "Maybe."

"Is it okay with you if he comes in, if he feels a craving?" I glanced at Nick, who nodded.

"Yeah. We'll distract you." He grinned at Reece. "Got more to teach you."

"Selene. I was ..._bloody hell_" Reece groaned softly, throwing the can into a new bag. "Did I propose to her?"

"Yeah." I agreed. Laughed as he rubbed his forehead and got him a glass of water, shoving it at him. "Drink up. You're going to need it for the next few days. Your body's going to be upset."

"Fuck the body. What the hell did I do that for?" He threw another empty can into the bag, grabbing another can, nearly crushing it as the humiliation flooded his face. "You should have seen her face, Anne, she thought I was nuts."

"We all think that." Nick said lightly from behind me. His hand traced across my hair, along my neck, teasing me with gentle touches as he kept his gaze on Reece. "But we like you for it."

"Nick, what do I do?" Reece stared up at Nick. No teasing. He geninuely wanted help. "I can't scare her off."

"Finish off that box and sober up again." Nick replied, his smile gone from his voice, pushing the box closer to the sink. I glanced back to see that he was frowning a fraction now. "You did break Pack law. You've got to talk to Elena about what they'll do with her."

Shock flashed across Reece's face, like he'd forgotten, like he'd been consumed with everything and it'd been shoved back. He got to work faster now, the regret gone from his face as he poured it into the sink, getting all of it gone and destroyed as fast as he could. Then he leaned over, kissed me, and jogged for the study, the regret replaced with purpose.

Nick pulled me against his legs once I'd shoved the last box into the bag and tied it up. I gazed up at him, body melting a little as his eyes met mine, his hands cupping my face. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah." Why did everyone ask me this? I reached up to pull his head down and kiss him, kiss him hard, Nick's body shuddering slightly as my hands slid up his thighs. We hadn't slept together for weeks. I wasn't sure if I was ready yet, even now, wasn't sure if I could be till my body stopped bleeding. As if he'd read my mind, he pulled my head back again, and fixed his eyes in mine.

"I love you. You can wake me up too. Day or night."

I felt a bit confused by this but I nodded, kissed him again, nuzzling into his neck. "I can do it soon. Just give me a few more days, okay?"

"You can have a few more years if it'll help." He slid his hands up my sides, stroking the skin, fingers sliding up under my bra's top I inhaled slowly, shutting my eyes, as Nick fingers teased the nipples, his teeth grazing my neck. "But I don't mind if you want a few days either."

"It might be a few hours if you keep that up." I muttered and he laughed. One of his hands vanished from my top only to reappear sliding down the front of the jeans, pressing against me through the fabric there, stroking me. I shut my eyes and ignored Reece as he returned, breathing a bit faster, unable to resist Nick...

"Clayton's coming to stop Nick." Reece warned us. Nick swore and let go of me as Clayton came out, fixing Nick with a look. Then he vanished back into the study. "You're removing her memory, Anne?"

"I don't know if it'll work." I admitted as he stared at me, no expression obvious, just stared. I had this distinct sense that he too suddenly thought something was wrong with me. It was starting to drive me nuts.

"Just be careful with her head." Reece came over to stroke my face, glancing at the sink, his eyes squeezing shut and then returning to me. For a moment, suddenly, it looked like he didn't ...completely have trust in me. For a moment I saw it, this fleeting doubt, this doubt I'd never seen directed at me. And it really hurt. I nodded stiffly and headed away, muttering something about wanting to read a book about it, leaving them alone.

I stared in the mirror for a while, trying to figure it out, and when Matt came in he tried to help. Neither of us could see something that'd make them feel worried. No dark shadows under eyes, no messy hair, it was just me. Maybe I had a pimple, it looked like one, but that was it.

"I don't think anything's wrong with you. You look and smell normal." He reassured me, staring at my hair, my face, trying to see it. I only saw loyalty in Matt's face. Complete and utter loyalty. "Want me to ask Uncle Nick?"

"That's okay." I shook my head. "How's your homework?"

Matt showed me what he had to do and I sat there. He was a smart kid. He had it all figured out. The only problem was that his writing wasn't as clear as other kids his age, spelling wasn't as good, and apparently the teacher had sent him home to re-do his work. But his mind was incredible. What he lacked in grammar, spelling and writing skills, he had in brain power. It wasn't just me being a bias aunt- I made him read it out to me and instead, he put it to one said and told me what it said without needing to glance at it once.

"Can I record me and then give it to her? I can't make it happen on paper." Matt scowled. "She doesn't get it. She thinks I get answers from other kids when I answer questions because I can't write good. And she thinks I steal lunches because I eat so much." That made me flinch. Matt hadn't told me that.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"She told Elena when she came to school and Elena told her. I said I'd tell you. I just didn't tell you fast." He frowned up at me. "I have to eat. I'm hungry. I'm like you."

"I know." Oh, bloody hell. This must have been why Clayton had been homeschooled. The sheer amount a werewolf needed once they started their changes was enough to make any human suspicious. "Do you want to keep going?"

"That's why I didn't tell you! Of course I do! Kate and Logan can go to school so I want to go." Matt looked like I'd betrayed him. I hadn't even suggested he stop. I'd just asked. "I thought you'd understand."

"I do. I don't want you to get into trouble, that's all. Here. Let me try and help you clean it up..."

I did that for the next hour, delaying the attempt to wipe Selene's mind successfully, and Matt more or less got his writing and spelling fixed a bit. Then it was dinner time for the hordes. Lucky I'd defrosted it the night before. But we'd have to start cooking soon, we'd run out of frozen meals pretty fast, and then I had to clean...

I was getting ready to do this when a long dark car pulled up outside. Elena glanced over. "That'll be Benicio Cortez. You and Antonio can go into the study. Nick, stay here and help."

Nick frowned and nodded, Antonio taking my arm and leading me outside to welcome him in.

"The Elders are dropped off at Forestwatch, Elena." He called, his eyes meeting Elena's eyes, and she nodded. Then he followed us into the study.

"You had an issue with the human girl?" Benicio Cortez asked.

"Elena's handling it." Antonio replied. "We need to discuss the twins."

"Yes. We do." Benicio agreed and started to pull out folders. "Tony, go and stand outside."

The body guard I'd seen around a few times, who I kept thinking was called Troy or something, nodded and headed out to stand on the porch. Benicio continued to thumb through the papers he'd pulled out.

"Rosa Da Vinci..."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Not even a tiny bit." Benicio's lips twitched though. "She died of what appeared to be a stroke. We suspect. Her wishes were to be cremated alone. No fuss. I was there and a few others. Her ashes were scattered in front of colleges and friends. I hope you don't mind that I didn't subject you to hours of being stared at by humans and supernaturals alike."

"No. _Thankyou_." The idea made my skin crawl.

"I know what your kind can be like. Her husband was buried with his family. His real family. Her story- Antonio shared it- checked out."

Antonio nodded, hand on my leg, as he took the papers. "I wanted it checked out."

I didn't mind about this either. But it suddenly felt like people were protecting me more than they really had to. Was this because I'd died? Was this why people were treating me like I was made of glass?

"In families like hers, this wasn't seen as such a strange thing. She was the heiress of their family. Not her father. But the interesting thing is that her mother was actually a mistress, not the wife, and she hadn't met her father until she was ten." Benicio said it so lightly, so casually. "Her mother died and she had to go live with him and her step-father. Mistresses weren't and aren't unusual. We marry for business and power. Rosa Da Vinci was originally called Rose MacNamara and her name was changed when she moved in with her father. Her mother was an Irish woman who'd settled in America with her family. They're more or less gone now. There were no other relatives in Rosa's family, or I doubt her step-mother would have accepted her, and when her half brother died she became heiress. The rest you know. Here is records of her, photos, family trees, medical information, and other information you can share with your twins should they wish to know more." Benicio gave me the largest folder out of the lot of them. It was huge and I noticed it even had a book inside it. "I had the photos turned into a book for you."

"Thanks." I wasn't even sure how I'd explain to the twins how they were conceived. Reece knew how he had been. He'd been ...well, sort of okay... and had accepted it. Maybe the twins would be okay.

"There's another collection on their biological father." He pushed another folder onto the table. "He was legally disowned just before he was killed. As were the sons. We're still unsure as to how they died."

"Wait, they died?" The ex-Alpha and his brother were dead?

"Not long after their father." Benicio's eyes met Antonio's eyes. "You didn't tell her that part?"

"Not at the moment." Antonio's hand tightened around my knee and I got the distinct sense of being protected all over again. It really annoyed me now. "What about the twins themselves?"

"_That_ may require coffee."

I realised I'd been rude. Not offered him coffee or tea. I stood up hurriedly, flushing. "Sorry. Would you like some? Or something to eat?"

"I would love something to drink. Coffee would be good. If you have something sweet, I would love a cookie, but with the rations I am not expecting you to go out of your way." He smiled, a nice pleasant smile, but it didn't quite seem to reach his eyes.

"I'll get them and be back in five." I went into the kitchen and started to get the machine on. Tray, milk on tray, sugar, I found some cookies that hadn't been raided by the twins, as Elena stood nearby loading the dishwasher.

When I got back the two of them were talking intently, glancing up at me, Antonio shifting the information for me to one side so the coffee table between the chairs was cleared again. I put the tray down and let everyone help themselves, figuring everyone knew what they liked best, and waited patiently.

"The twins are the only family left in her family. I searched, made sure no one could sneak up and try and claim it, but they are. There's been a series of accidents and mysterious deaths stretching back generations." Benicio glanced at the books he'd given me. "As you'll see when you read it over later. That family is one of the four big families. Or it was. Her son hasn't maintained it all that well."

"What does that mean for my babies?" I didn't care if it was the royal family itself.

"It means that you'll have to take over their business or assign someone to the position of CEO. Multi-billion dollar company in pharmaceuticals and biotech. Scientific labs. It seems that a lot of it is based around supernatural study, unofficially, and I suspect you'd want to keep an eye on that. We are in partnership with each other and they're the major shareholders in other businesses also dealing in pharmaceuticals and biotech."

I sighed. Stared at it. I didn't feel particularly impressed or inspired by 'CEO' or 'billion dollar' stuff. But this was what my son and daughter might one day want to be in charge of. "I'm not going to pretend. This isn't an area I'm good at or interested in."

"I know." Antonio nudged me gently. "There's other ways. Hiring a person to manage this may work."

"If you're not interested, I can assist by starting a hiring process on your behalf. I would have to do it unofficially though. We're not supposed to nose around in each other's families." Benicio shifted back. "It would be done under your name and I'd ask Lucas to take care of it. You'd still receive a salary, however smaller it might be. But I would recommend you take part in this company in some form."

"I don't know a thing about business though." I repeated, or it felt like I was, as the older men exchanged glances again. There it was. That sense that they'd already discussed this without me.

"We do. We talked about it." Antonio spoke carefully, calmly. "We both think that it might be wise to hire someone on a contract basis for the time being and do a course in business. Decide when you've finished the course and spent some time working in the company somewhere."

"You talked about it?" I raised an eyebrow at Antonio. He didn't flinch, he just fixed his eyes in mine, clearly not feeling regretful or like he'd crossed any sort of boundaries.

"That company, that family, it's too important to loose." Benicio said. "We almost lost them and then they married into this company and created one of the bigger companies in the American region. Renowned for their discoveries of new medicines and scientific breakthroughs into human genetics. Your children aren't expected to keep it afloat but you are, at least till they're legal adults themselves, and this depends on more than just hiring a CEO. It depends on you. The decisions come through you. If it falls apart, the blame falls on you. The supernatural world already blames us for this disease. One more fall of a family and we're not going to have as much stability."

Great. I gulped some of the hot black coffee down as they waited. Stared at me. "So if it falls..."

"We're going to have a few problems."

Another weight on me. I suddenly felt like I was five years old again being told I had to drive Daddy's car to the hospital or he'd die. Like too much was thrown at me too fast. But how would it feel for my babies when they got older? I hoped one of them liked this stuff. "So your suggestion was..."

"To hire a temporary CEO on a three year basis and complete a six month course in business. After that, I'd suggest you do further study in executive business while working part time there, but we'll see how you feel after six months. No one expects you to know straight away." Benicio replied. "Lucas will support you with the hiring process. Antonio can give advice."

"Not so much as you probably want." Antonio added, quickly, "This isn't my area. But I can help. Nick can also help a little. If your triplets are heading into nursery school soon then..."

"Then I have a little more time." I agreed quietly. Argh. Time to _sleep_, not time to go back to school.

"Did you ever go to college?" Benicio asked.

"Australia doesn't have colleges. I studied fine arts and then I studied ...well, therapy." I remembered a bit too late I wasn't supposed to mention hypnotherapy.

"Hypnotherapy. It's not going to be hidden for long. Another reason you might not want to be CEO. It may ...not help." Benicio said, quieter, and I saw that for all his smiles and nice attitude, the real business man underneath, shrewder, maybe even a bit manipulative. "You will still have power without the title. Still be able to influence this company. You are the major shareholder now, as mother of the twins, and that will last until they are of legal age to take all these assets as their own."

"And you'll be there to tell me what the Cortez company needs?" I added. He actually laughed then, nodding.

"You're good at least at seeing what people want. Yes. I may ask. I won't expect, but I may ask, and you may ask things of me as well. Others _will_ ask. That's something your counselling modules in hypnotherapy might be used for, noticing when people want something of you. This isn't something you have to decide tonight."

"I can do the course from here?"

"The six month one, yes." Benicio nodded. "Though I'd recommend you set up an office for it. One without children."

"I was thinking that today." Antonio's eyes went to the pile of toys in the corner where the triplets had been earlier, his lips twitching. "The three of us need somewhere to study and work."

"I guess you're right." I kind of liked it. But if I was doing some full on boring course about business then I probably did need to avoid getting distracted by the wiggle dvd playing Big Red Car for the fifteenth time in the corner. "All right. I'll do the course and talk to Lucas about hiring someone."

"I'll call him tonight and let him know. He'll probably contact you in the next few days." Benicio didn't stand. I half expected him to, now that I'd given in, but he went for the last pile of papers I hadn't seen. "Now. Inheritance."

Again, for the second time in three years, I was suddenly rich. Well. Technically they were. I was their mother. We owned the house in Miami which, as it turned out, wasn't a cheap one. Apparently Hibiscus island was a popular place to be, which was kind of amusing as Macleay Island in Australia was a cheap place, and the house itself was value at around six or seven million. Million! My only reaction was dread and the sudden urge to vomit. Who needed a house that much anyway? There were other things, contents valuing some other amount I was too stunned to stare at too long, their savings, the fact that now the twins were seriously heir and heiress to a fortune that was going to keep them secure for their lives, their babies lives, and ...also, apparently due to run one of those evil Pharmaceutical companies us artists used to complain about in Fine Arts.

I was glad Antonio was there suddenly, this calming grounding presence, his hand not leaving mine as Benicio listed off everything. Some of her will went to charity. Some of it went to friends. But, to my shock, she'd more or less dedicated it to the twins. Even her last name. Her original maiden name. She wanted them to be called MacNamara.

"Can we split their names into Sorrentino- MacNamara?" Antonio asked and Benicio nodded.

"I did ask. As she didn't say in her will that they were only to be named MacNamara, it should be fine. It just has to be on their birth certificate." He nodded slowly.

"We were giving them some extra names anyway." I sighed. So what was it now? Michael Reece Sorrentino- MacNamara and Nicky Rose-Ella Sorrentino- MacNamara. Bloody hell. I'd never remember how to spell all that. "Did she say anything else?"

"Suggestions, as my lawyer put it, about private schools, diets, things like that. It wasn't apart of her legal will, even if she did staple it to it, it looks like she just rambled off what she wanted for them. She was in the process of creating a new will on her death. One that did try and exclude you." Benicio's eyes met mine. "She didn't complete it. Legally, it's just a piece of paper. We got rid of it."

They made it happen the way that benefited all of us, in other words, not just me and the twins. I wasn't going to complain. I was too shocked to complain.

"I can decide about schools and diets and things. With Nick." I muttered. Antonio squeezed my hand.

"I have no doubts. That's it, more or less. The transfer to your account will happen if you just fill this out and sign a few pages and contracts. Antonio, can you get Nick and then act as their witness?"

"Not at all."

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

I woke, neck aching, the traces of fear lingering without much to connect them to. My head was heavy, my arms and legs struggling to move, and it took me a few seconds to get that I was lying in a cage. The cage.

Panic erupted and I reached for my neck, feeling a cold thing slide off it. An ice pack? And the door was open. What kind of mafia treated their victims and left the captive's door open?

It was clear who'd woken me when I heard a soft, "Shh" and matched it to one I'd heard. Before some crazed guy had tried to strangle me. This was the crazy guy who'd proposed to me.

I stared at him in the dark, his eyes darting up, and then he moved closer to the bars. His eyes fixed on my neck and he frowned. Reece. The guy who'd proposed to me. It didn't matter how many times my head said this, it never sunk in, it never made any more sense than the last time.

"Y-" I cut off as the talking part didn't work well. My throat was dry and I accepted the water from him without realising he'd held it out, drinking it down thirstily as he watched. "You."

"Yeah. Me. I came to say sorry again. I was a bit ..." He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head, looking a little ...less manic than before. Sort of. "I do like you. I didn't mean to throw it all at you in one hit."

"Werewolf?"

"Uh huh." He agreed. Glanced back upstairs and then came in. I noticed in the light of a lamp nearby that his face was bruised, his neck, his arms. Had they beaten him up? "I got in a bit of trouble for telling you."

"Was it a joke?" It felt like a dream now. I stared at the bruises and the split lip, faint concern and disbelief as I saw the dark purple one right where the blonde man had struck him hard and knocked him out. Without thinking about it I reached up to touch the spot on his head that was swollen, aware that I'd picked up the cool ice pack and held it there, and the look on his face ...to say it made my knees go weak, however teenagerish it was, it was true. He smiled and his hand covered mine, as I pressed the thing to his head, my heart going a bit faster.

I had liked him. When he'd come into the shop, I had. Every time he looked at me like that, that intense stare, his eyes on my lips and my eyes, I kept forgetting the weird shit that came with him. The anger, the monster, the ...all of it.

"No." Reece's hand stroked mine, a tiny gesture that made goosebumps rise on my hand, reaching over to touch the swollen throat carefully with a thumb, leaning closer. "He really got a bit carried away."

"I thought he was trying to..." I remembered it, the panic, the fear that he really was going to kill me. It had really happened.

"No way in hell. He'd have to do it to me first." He muttered, shifting closer again, sliding across the bed as he did. I stared at him as he came closer, his eyes on my lips now, cheeks going red, hand dropping to rest on my knee...

A cough made us both flinch. That silver blonde haired woman stood there, arms crossed, looking somewhat amused. She held up an icepack.

"Elena." He grinned at her, pulling me up against his side. "This is Selene."

"I know." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Selene, what you saw-"

"Was real." I muttered. She sighed. "Don't tell me it wasn't. It felt real."

"Was something you aren't suppose to see. We're going to have to take that memory away." She continued.

My eyes widened and I felt a kind of shock run through me. "You can do that? Please, let me keep it. I've been looking for people like Reece for all my life."

Reece tensed beside me, standing, and again I found myself shoved against his side. He seemed more steady now though, more alert. "Elena, she doesn't have to … she could keep it secret."

Elena shut the cage door. On both of us. Reece grabbed for it and she shoved him back, so sudden, so violent, that it startled me, and Reece crashed backwards over the bed. He looked unharmed, just shocked, as she fixed him with a stare.

"We are taking the memory away, Reece." She said softly, lowly, a kind of strange growl there. Like she was warning him. It suddenly reminded me of her husband. This bizarre ...scary... threatening stare. This predator.

Like a wolf.

"Wait, you're one too." I stared at her. She blinked, stared at me, and stepped closer, that scary gaze falling onto me suddenly. Trying to shut me up. "You are, aren't you? So's your husband."

I'd just let them lead me into a house full of werewolves. Like an idiot. I'd been snooping around a house full of werewolves.

"Werewolves aren't real. Are they, Reece?"

"She knows, Elena." He stood up and rubbed his head. "And that _hurt_."'

"Do you change with the full moon?" I asked, standing up, but hesitated as she stared at me like I was ...well, nothing. Like I was just a human. What was wrong with them anyway? "Do you hate silver? How many are here?"

"I'm sorry, Selene. We can't let you remember this." She said, quietly, stepping back. Away from me, from my eager questions, from my attempts to connect. "Reece, you've got a few hours. Don-"

Feet cut her off. A man came downstairs and he stared at me. I hadn't seen him before.

" Benicio..."

"She's the sister of the skin-walker?" He strode up to the cage. Ignored my shock, ignored me, staring at me like I was a rare species in a cage. I felt Reece's hand come up to touch my lower back as he moved closer. "How long are you keeping her here?"

Sister of the skin-walker? Were they saying my brother was the monster? My jaw dropped as she hurried him out, glancing back at us, hurrying him away before I could ask questions.

I sat down, staring at my knees, trying to understand. Trying to get this. I'd spent my whole life searching for... for things that explained what I saw. Why I saw it. I'd been haunted by owls no one saw, I'd been chased around, and now they'd called my brother a skin-walker. I couldn't believe that was the truth. If he was then he would never have scorned what I loved. Never.

"What is that thing, Reece? Is it a skin-walker?"

"Yeah."

"Is my brother one?"

He hesitated. "I d..." Reece went quiet, his lips twisting as if he was trying to hold the answer there, suddenly looking away. "Not for me to tell you. Ask me about being a werewolf and I have all the answers."

He didn't say no.

"We're not allergic to silver. There's a handful of us here." He sat down beside me. When he reached for my hand, I didn't pull back, I watched him play with the lines on my palm. "Moon doesn't matter much."

"Is it like Twilight?"

Reece laughed and shook his head. "Not even close. We're different. The reality's a bit nastier. And vampires don't sparkle."

Wait, what? "_Vampires are real?_"

"Course they are. They don't burn in the sun either." He leaned back. "May as well tell you it all."

And he did. Everything. He sat there and he told me everything. Demons impregnating women here and creating half-demons. Vampires. Witches. Sorcerers. Shapeshifters. My brain struggled, even though I believed in all of it, it just struggled with it. Some part of me expected him to turn around and add 'This isn't real, this is a joke', but …. I couldn't. Necromancers.

"Ghosts too." He said quieter after he'd finished telling me about the others. "There are ghosts. I don't see them. The necromancers see them. But I heard skin-walk..."

"Walkers can see them too?"

He nodded and met my eyes.

Suddenly horror flooded through me. I stood up. "I ...I'm not a monster. I'm not one of them."

Reece blinked and held up his hands, sudden, shaking his head. "No, you're not one of htose monsters. Shit. I guess if they're ...not all skin-walkers are monsters."

"What do you mean?"

"What did your stories tell you about them taking shapes of animals?" He asked quietly. It took me a few minutes to get over my shock and put it together.

"But I'm not _that_. I don't do _that_."

"Not yet. But if a wild animal walks up to you and falls dead at your feet, call your brother." He swore softly. "I don't even know ...why he isn't … why he doesn't tell you this."

"I'm a human." I stared at Reece, without really staring at him, just stared. My life was flashing through my head. Unexpected things. Animals. Owls. People no one could see. Dreams about running. The memory of this dream, this dream that had happened over and over, it hit me across the head as I remembered it. I dreamed about running with a …. "Oh my god. I was running with a wolf."

The word came out, Reece's head swinging up, and I stared at him. Remembered the dog outside my window. The tan-gold fur. The paw. The …

"When?"

"In a dream." I was running with a wolf in a dream. For months. Running, and running, and running, for no reason except to run. Except to feel the sheer joy of running. Running with a wolf that set my blood on fire. That I felt attached to like nothing before. Just running.

Reece stared at me, standing up slowly, staring down at me. "A wolf?"

"Why did you propose to me?" And mention Jacob Black? And Bella's baby? I stared at him. If I only had a few hours left then I wanted answers. I wanted to stuff my head with the world. Maybe something would stick. "Who the hell proposes to someone after five minutes?"

Who the hell dreamed about running with a wolf or a monster? Or forgot about the wolf part when it was so good? I'd had nightmares and avoided sleeping, but then I'd gone to sleep and the wolf was there. Only I'd forget by the morning. Only now, only while he was getting close, did these memories snap back into my head.

He was getting closer. His breathing was faster, intense stare catching me like I was a rabbit, my heart hammering in my throat.

"I don't know you."

"No." Reece agreed. Leaned down, hands grasping my arms, so careful now. Like he was petrified he'd bruise me. "You don't know me. I didn't come here to hit on you. I came here to say sorry."

"I've never seen you before."

"No." He agreed. Inched closer. "I've never seen you before. Do you want to date?"

"I don't know ..." I hesitated. Stared at him. Unconsciously licked my lips, feeling awkward, feeling ...heated. Like suddenly all I wanted to do was kiss the living daylights out of the man. I had dated before but … "I don't know ...if I want that marriage part. I just want it to go slow. Dating. You can date me. I don't kno-"

"You don't have to know everything." Reece laughed. One of his hands came up to brush my hair out of my face, amused, and then he leaned down to brush his lips against mine. When I didn't resist or pull away the hunger in his eyes spread to his kiss. He kissed me so hard that my toes curled, heat blooming in my belly, and relief. How, or why I felt relief, I didn't understand. I just felt relieved, my mouth opening, the taste of him as much of a memory as the dreams had been. Like we'd already done this in them. Over and over and over.

It made no sense, and for once, I didn't have the urge to research or to write a book on it. I just let him do it.

His hands slid around my back, pulling me back with him, the heat building as he pulled me back and sat on the bed, pulling me into his lap. Reece pulled his head back, blinking at me, and then his gaze went right down my front. He didn't try and hide it, didn't try and pretend her was looking at a fly or something, he just openly stared down my breasts, my belly, down to between my legs, his nostrils flaring.

_Oh god_, I thought, my eyes widening. _Tell me he can't smell what he's doing._

"So. The monster."

"Don't want to work right now. That _smell_." He inhaled again, a long deep breathe in, drawing everything into my lungs. "You know how hard it is to take this slow?"

"Yes." I knew. But he had no choice. I needed it to be slow. "Slow. Dating."

"Liking our first date so far?" Reece glanced up at the cage, at the basement, his eyes going past me to the locked door. He frowned. "Which you'll forget."

"I don't want to forget." I admitted. His eyes came back to me and he bit his lip. "I was looking for this. I knew it existed. I don't want to forget."

"I'll just ask you out again after."

"That doesn't help."

Reece growled softly, shutting his eyes, pulling me harder against his chest. I heard steps coming down the stairs and Anne coming around the corner, her eyes on us, looking a bit startled and amused. And sad.

"Reece..."

"Pretend you did it." He said, soft, so soft I was sure she hadn't heard it. "Pretend. I think she'll help better if she knows."

Anne hesitated, as my eyes met hers, the look on her face suggesting she wasn't keen on this any more than I was. "I ..."

"Pretend, Selene." He murmured against my ear. Nipped it, sending chills through me, ignoring my attempts to stand up. "Anne won't let me down."

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

I'd never seen Reece like that.

Well, actually, I had. And it chilled me. It chilled me because it looked exactly like how he'd looked when he was pleading for Daniella to come back. It was this plea from something so deep inside, so intimate, that I'd actually never touched it. We loved each other but ...not like this.

Holy crap. This chick, this little dark haired teenager, she was his mate. Or if she wasn't, she was something pretty damn important, and from the look of her swollen lips and hair messed up all over the place, she'd accepted him one way or another. And the way her dark eyes met mine, pleading, this look that matched Reece's pleading eyes.

I wanted to hit Reece when he told her that I wouldn't let him down. I wanted to hit him and kick him and I wanted to throw him ...off the roof. Or something dramatic that involved him crashing to earth again because wherever those two were... it was not here. And it made me angry, and tired, esspically after having to sign all these papers and be told I had to be some kind of CEO or something and … now, Reece wanted me to lie to Elena and Clayton.

No, I realied, act the lie out. Clayton came down to watch. I had to act out the lie. To his face. I didn't want to lie to his face. I didn't want to lie to anyone.

Big brown eyes. Big green eyes. Pleading at me.

"You want a coffee?" Clayton touched my shoulder and I jumped. Nodded. "Be back in a sec. Don't start without me."

He headed upstairs and I flopped in the seat outside, trying to avoid their gaze, trying to ignore the silent pleading on Reece's face.

"You want me to lie to Elena." I hissed softly through the bars, coming closer, Reece standing. He brought Selene over, he didn't leave her behind, his arm around her shoulders.

"She dreamed of me too. Of running with me." He pleaded, glancing at her. "Tell her."

"I did. It was this big wolf, blonde and tan and … I was running with it. It always came after the dreams with the monster. I always forgot about it." She flushed, looking embarrassed as my eyes went to her. "He said I could be a skin-walker."

"Did he?" I met Reece's eyes who shrugged. "You might also be a human."

"I don't care. I see ghosts. Don't I deserve to be ...to know about your world? Aren't I good enough?" She looked like a kid suddenly, like a kid who'd been bullied and teased, and I remembered what shed' said. They'd taken her to shrinks. Her brother teased her when he himself was apart of our world. She'd hidden herself.

"Reece, this could get us both kicked out of the Pack." I snapped, trying to stay quiet, grabbing him and pulling him hard against the bars. "Not just you. Me too. And if they think it doesn't work, if they think she knows too much, then you know what Clayton's action will be, if he thinks he has to." I added, quieter. "I ..."

I heard Clayton opening the door upstairs and backed off. Reece backed up as well, pulling Selene behind him, the smell of coffee drifting down the stairs. I headed back and took my cup, ignoring the two pairs of eyes in the cage, Clayton's eyes going from me to them.

"You want to sleep?" He checked and I shook my head. Sleeping would make me feel worse. I wouldn't sleep.

Lying to my Alpha or taking away her memories when she had lived her whole life trying to get them. I couldn't even be sure it'd work. What if it took away all her memories? What if it took nothing?

Clayton reached for the cage door and pulled Reece out, ignoring him, and then looked at me. I had to do _something_.


	4. Reflection

I couldn't do it. Not to my Alpha. Not to Reece. Not even to _her_. It was too risky and it could have meant more than just the loss of Pack.

Clayton would notice. And if he thought she was a threat, no matter how many big brown eyes or big green eyes came at us, he would do what he had to do to protect the Pack. He'd make her vanish. It was his job. It was a job he expected me to do. If I tried, if I at least tried, then maybe she'd be safe. And she didn't have to forget forever. Just long enough.

But Reece saw it in my face, saw the second I'd decided it, and I saw the betrayal dig deep. Saw hurt there, real genuine hurt, and instantly wished I hadn't done anything. Saw the rage there, the rage at me, and suddenly I was no longer his best friend. I wasn't anything to him. I was a stranger.

Something else too, and I was too slow to see it, the sudden feral rage that was so _alien_ on his face, too slow to react as he suddenly grabbed Clayton's collar and slammed his head into the metal bars. Clayton went down. Reece went at me, ignoring Selene's cry of fear, went at me as if I was a stranger.

"Re-"

He cut me off, his fists flying, grabbing at me with a kind of strength I wouldn't have expected from him while he was sobering up. The bricks met the back of my head, as he slammed me against them, and I crumpled to the ground, darkness and pain exploding through my vision. I fought against it, I struggled, feeling hands tugging something out of my jeans and ...I saw Reece and Selene's feet. Climbing out the window.

I tried to get up, smelling blood, tried and …it didn't work so well. I sunk back onto the floor with a soft groan.

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

He was back. This scary side was back. I saw him knock them both out within seconds, mere seconds, blood seeping from their heads. But when he looked back at me, there was no monster, just Reece. He held out his hand.

"Come on. It's time to run."

"Are yo-"

"They'll kill you if you don't." He snapped, hesitated, and, "Just trust me. I wouldn't hurt my mate."

Mate. The single word seemed to echo around the room, heavy with meaning, and his eyes stayed fixed in mine as he pushed the small window open. He didn't mean the kind Australians used, clearly, as his eyes went to my swollen lips. The dream came back. Running. Running beside him. This big wolf, this wolf that didn't scare me, and then that monster. He knelt to tug something out of Anne's pants. A wallet. Then keys from the scary one.

"Okay." I heard myself answer. Reece slid up and out of it, jumping easily, and pulled me up after him. Reece made his way quietly to a car, keeping me to one side, his eyes on the house as he unlocked it and got into the car. I slid into the other side.

His expression was odd. Wild, it was the only word for it, his eyes darting around as he pulled away quickly. He was a werewolf. He was seriously a werewolf. Did that make me seriously... something else? Why hadn't my brother told me?

"This doesn't mean we're speeding it up."

He stared sideways, blinking, not getting it.

"Still slow dating."

Reece's shoulders relaxed. Only for a second though, his eyes going into the mirror, as headlights appeared on the road behind us. The car sped up and he grasped the wheel tighter.

"They'll be okay." He said softly. I felt his hand reach out for mine, this hand that'd just smashed their heads in, and his head twisted in my direction. "We're fast healers. That's why I'm speeding. Clayton's going to be after us the second he snaps out of it. Put your seatbelt on."

I did so, tugging it across me as he sped, heart thudding hard against my chest. Reece put his on, keeping the car steady as he made his way away from the place, and for some reason I didn't quite get, I let him take me away. Far away.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

I woke with Elena sitting beside me, something cold under my skull, and saw Clayton still unconscious nearby. He looked pretty nasty- the blood wasn't slow at all, Jeremy trying to fix it.

Elena stared at him, her face white, and I sat up slowly. The world spun and I nearly fell back, her hand catching my arm.

"Slow. Antonio and Vi have gone after Reece."

"Bloody idiot." It felt like I was saying this a lot about him lately. Was I? Probably. "Clay?"

She didn't answer, just returned her eyes to him, her hand loosening on my arm. I slid up slowly and sat beside her as Jeremy pressed hard against the gash where the metal bars had struck a little too well.

"I wasn't going to hurt her." I said it quietly, lifting the ice pack to the back of my head, cringing as I felt dampness there. "He's lost his mind. Think we need new rules about dealing with mates." I muttered, quieter, giving up on talking. The words, however soft, were like someone was hammering at my head. Elena's gaze fell to her hand. The two tiny scars, so innocent, her jaw tightening as she stared at them. We were idiots when it came to our partners. That was all there was to it. The wolf didn't understand human complications and politics. It understood something else. And it reacted.

"We'll worry about that later." She said finally.

Nick came down and slid down to sit beside me, kissing my shoulder as he held me close, his eyes going to Elena. "Ambulance is coming."

"Ambulance?" I stared at Jeremy, who grimaced and nodded.

"This isn't something I can treat."

It was that bad? We never went to hospital. As far as I knew, we never had. Something to do with our genetics- it was one of the first things Antonio had told me about.

"Take Elena and Anne upstairs, Nick." Jeremy said softly, his hand still over the wound, and Nick lifted both of us up. Elena seemed as unable to stand as I was, let him push her up the stairs, her face still shocked.

Nick made her a coffee and she sat there holding onto it. He checked my head, I felt him press the ice pack back up against it, the other hand on her shoulder. She stared at the door until the ambulance came and by then Jeremy had lifted Clayton up and carried him into the room. He got into the ambulance with Clayton and we watched them leave.

"Are you going?" I asked Elena, turning to her, and she shook her head.

"I can't. I ...I need to change. Anne, lock me in the cage." She stood up, so calm looking, so quiet, but her arms were shaking. Her hands. She looked like she was about to go from calm to raging wolf. "Nick. Someone."

Nick led her downstairs and I heard him shut the cage nad come back up, shutting the door behind him, his eyes meeting mine.

"What was it?"

"He was bleeding out of the ear. Jeremy thinks Reece might have broken one of the bones in the skull. Let me check your skull, Aussie." Nick moved around me, kissing my hair as he went. "It's not too bad."

"Good." I leaned against him as he wrapped his arms around me, kissing my shoulder, the sounds of Elena's change below us starting up. "Reece..."

"Gonna punch him when I see him." He muttered. I felt him lift me up. "Elena wanted to stay there overnight, unless she's needed."

"Okay."

"Do you mind if we sleep on the couch tonight?" Nick gazed down at me. "I pulled it out."

"No, that's okay." I nodded and let him carry me into the living room and lowered onto it. "I should go find Reece."

"Dad''s looking right now. I keep forgetting how young he is." He crawled onto the bed beside me and lay back, staring at the ceiling, Nick's hand threading through mine.

That was right. Werewolves aged slower. Reece was just a few years younger than me, twenty five, but mentally he was probably about nineteen. Like Selene was. So he was probably not quite over the teenager thing yet and it was also probably making this attachment to her worse. More intense. I lay there, Nick shifting over to kiss my shoulder, feeling awful. He trusted me and I'd let him down.

"What's on your mind?" Nick asked softly, kissing my shoulder.

I told him what Reece wanted me to do and he frowned. "You couldn't lie to Elena."

"I know. But I wouldn't have hurt her." I stared at the ceiling in the living room. Rain started outside, heavy rain, hiding the sounds of Elena's change downstairs. "He looked at me like I was about to attack her. I think they kissed."

"Ah. I get it." He nodded slowly, a small smile creeping over his face, reaching over to pull my head in his direction. Nick kissed me gently, his breathing getting a little faster as he did, his tongue meeting mine as he shifted half over me. It did something to me as it always did, my heart sped up, my love for him overshadowing the rest of the world. Nick pulled away and grinned at me. "See? We go crazy when we kiss. One touch and I want to jump you."

"In the living room? When kids could come down any second?"

"In the living room. When kids could come down any second." He shifted over me, pulling my legs around his waist, sliding his hands up the rough fabric of the pants. "I love it when you wear skirts. So many pants." His head lifted as we heard a car coming, sliding back, one of my legs slipping down.

"That Antonio?"

"Yeah." Nick lifted the leg he hadn't let go of, nipping my foot, making me squirm. He grinned. "If I ask you to put on a skirt..."

"I should wear something better for bed." I tried to free my foot as his mouth nipped and tickled it, teasing me, trying to push him off it. Nick tugged me backwards off the bed and stood up. I stood up as Antonio pulled up near the house, hurrying to the window, cringing as the bright lights hit my night vision.

Reece wasn't with them. My heart sank as I saw that, saw that an Owl had come to land on the ground nearby, the skin shifting off Alan as he strode for the front door and tucked the skin of feathers into the bag he always carried over a shoulder. He didn't look shocked, he looked pissed off, like he already knew what had gone on.

"Did Reece take your phone, Anne?" Antonio called as he jogged up to the door. Vi was on her phone, light hair glowing in the lights of the house, trying to shield her phone from the rain.

I felt for my pockets. Reece's cards were gone and his wallet. "Just his wallet and cards."

"Damn. So he's got cash." Antonio swore softly and his eyes met Alan's eyes. "Where would your sister want to go, to hide?"

"I don't know. Damn it." Alan went back out into the rain. "This how you take care of your guests? Run off with them?"

"She knows about you." I said quietly. Alan's eyes shot to mine, fixed me with that stare that reminded me so much of an owl, his lips tracing the words.

"How?"

"Reece told her."

"The one that ran off with her? Typical." He hissed a low hiss as he took out the skin again. "My Elders aren't impressed either. Where's your Alpha?"

"Dealing with the problem." I said before anyone else could. Alan's eyes going back to me. I didn't raise my voice, I didn't growl, but I wasn't going to let him go in and interrupt Elena. My loyalty to her was absolute. "Reece's actions were stupid. We're going to get him and she'll be near him. He won't let her get harmed till then."

"Yeah, how do I know?" Alan snapped. "She's alone with a fucking wolf. He could be-"

"He's mated to her." Nick spoke up, his hand coming to wrap around my hand, stepping closer. "Or at least, he thinks he is. We know Reece. He's going to wait on her hand and foot till we get our hands on him."

"He was protecting her. Or he thought he was." Antonio said quickly when Alan's eyes fixed on him. "She wasn't in danger."

Nothing we were saying did much but at least his shoulders relaxed, just a fraction, just enough to make the veins stand out a little less. "Right. But I'm warning you. My Elders are delaying the meeting till you find them or your Alpha turns up." Before we could speak, he was gone, body mutating into the skin, and the shape of the big owl fading into the rain.

We watched him go and Vi came inside. She glanced up at one of the windows where Pav was waiting. They were going soon, heading back to Russia, I knew that Pav wanted to get home to her children. And getting out of America wasn't tough.

"What about Australia?" I said, suddenly, as I realised. Reece had spoken to me about Australia. "Did you check the airport?"

"Not the international part." Antonio was heading back for the car though, keys out, not even bothering to discuss it. "We'll call. Nick, you up for this drive?"

"Yeah." Nick kissed me quickly. Nick hurried after his dad and slid into the car beside him. They headed off again quickly, and I wondered if I should go.

But the look on Reece's face when I'd decided to side with Elena, it made me want to stay here. Hide. Cowardly, okay, sure, but I'd hurt him. I had to do it though. Vi tugged me inside, made me sit down, and I felt her check my head as I stared out the window.

"You are not okay." She said as she sat down in front of me. "What happened?"

"Reece asked me to pretend to do it. I thought it was better for her if I ..."

"You were right, of course. Could you not have asked Clayton to take him out?"

I hadn't even thought of that. "I don't think so. He reacted pretty fast. Clayton didn't even get time to blink."

Vi nodded, checking my eyes with a little torch. "Clayton was not in a good way. I told Jeremy to get his head checked at hospital. Pav's father is meeting them to make sure it goes right."

I groaned softly and didn't resist when she hugged me hard. "Vi, he looked at me like... like … I don't know. He was so hurt."

"He is grieving." She reminded me. Like I could forget that. "So are you. We all are. I want you to stay awake tonight to be sure."

"All night?"

"All night." Vi confirmed. "Elena is in the cage?"

I nodded and she glanced downwards towards the cage. We could both hear it, hear the sound of an upset wolf so loud that even the heavy rain wasn't drowning her out, throwing herself against the cage as she tried to get out. Tried to go after Clayton.

"She asked."

"Good." Vi sat back and rubbed her head, yawning, then stood up. "This house should have real coffee."

"Doesn't it?" I blinked.

Vi shook her head."This house only has decaf. Did you not notice?"

I didn't. Now that she mentioned it, it explained why it wasn't working, why the coffee hadn't been doing a damn thing. She glanced back up as she heard Pav coming down the stairs, standing. "You can sleep."

"I know I can sleep." Pav kissed Vi, taking her hands and pulling her into the living room. "But I can't sleep. What movie are we watching to stay awake?"

We ended up watching Bollywood like we used to, the three of us, Vi pretending she wasn't interested. She was. She kept sneaking glances when she pretended to be reading and it always seemed to be at the exact moment Pav would appear on screen. Like she knew by heart every scene, every second, every part of the song her wife would show up.

Pav and Vi nudged me every time I 'rested my eyes', knocking me back awake, the two of them watching me carefully. It was probably fear of a concussion if Clayton's head was really as bad as Jeremy suspected, fear that Reece had hurt me badly, but I felt like it wasn't that bad. Even now, even if I'd hurt him, he couldn't quite do it. Couldn't hurt me. He'd just knocked me out long enough to get out of the house and into a car.

Clayton was a shock though. It couldn't have been a concious choice to do that, it would have been the panic, the wolf trying to disable the pack enforcer rather than Reece trying to knock out Clayton. I knew he trusted Clayton. But that must have started to fray, maybe as soon as Reece had seen what Selene's neck looked like.

"I let him down, didn't I?" I asked quietly.

"To him, probably. To the pack, you had to do what you were told." Pav said softly. "If it was Vi then I wouldn't think clearly either."

"I would not. But when I calm down, I would see. Reece may calm down."

"He slept with me. And Nick." I said it softly, feeling their eyes on me, unwilling to see their expressions. I was still battling with the idea that it was 'strange' or 'slutty' of me.

"We know. Daniella told us." Vi replied. "I assumed it meant Nick knew. She was very angry. This does not change that you had duty to Pack."

I nodded, sighed, and let the red head snuggle me against her side. I feel asleep, the two of them finally letting me, the slow heartbeat of Vi against my ear, Pav speaking to someone on the phone in her language... Hindu/... only to be nudged awake a few minutes later when Nick called.

Antonio and Nick didn't find Reece at the international airport. They didn't see a trace of Selene. And Alan, who'd apparently taken the search to air, had no luck either. Reece had just driven off. Logically, I'd done the right thing, logically, this was what I should have done. Suddenly I couldn't sleep. I sat there beside them as Pav fell asleep, then Vi, staring at the TV screen without barely seeing the movie. The night stretched by and I started to curse logic for being impossible. By the time morning came I was more than willing to beg forgiveness if he just rang. But he didn't. Nick and Antonio had flown into New York city to check the airports there, in case he drove all the way to the city.

Jeremy rang just as I was getting breakfast for the kids with the help of Pav and Vi. Clayton had needed some minor surgery, apparently, and because of the disease filling the hospitals they were eager to release him straight after when they'd confirmed we had two nurses in the house. They'd had to put his bone back into place near the ear and there'd been a bleed causing pressure on the brain. Or something scary sounding. He said it very casually, adding that Amar- Vi's father- had been there to ensure that no blood was taken. It had been one hell of a risk though.

Elena woke when I went down to tell her that Clayton was coming back, curled up on her side behind the overturned bed, naked and shaking. She smiled weakly, standing, reaching for the clothes she'd knocked all over the place.

"Jeremy said it went fine and they're driving back now. Vi wants to know if she can prepare your room for him- she apparently likes it clear around the bed and specific color sheets and..." I shrugged lightly, trying to smile, but I couldn't. "Nurses."

"She can do whatever she needs to. I'll help." She tugged on her pants and dressed slowly, shaking, her breathing faster. "He's okay? Did he say what..."

"The bar must have broken the bone, like Jeremy thought, they fixed it, released pressure on the brain from a bleed, and they're trying to empty his bed so they can get someone else in." I tried to say it as lightly as Jeremy had, tried to sound relaxed like it wasn't a big deal, but it was. It was his _skull and brain._

"He will take some time to recover." Pav made her way down beside me as she opened the cage door. "But he will recover faster than a human. Roman has said Vi must stay until he is fine." She tried to smile.

"Your twins though..." Elena pulled her bra on. "I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't. Roman did. And he's right. I'm heading back like planned and she'll come soon after. Let me check you before you put a top on." Pav went in to check the bruises Elena had sustained while panicking as a wolf.

"Are my kids okay? Do they know?" She let Pav circle her as she met my eyes and I shook my head.

"They're eating breakfast."

"I'll talk to them." Elena breathed out slowly, squeezed her eyes shut, and waited as patiently as she could for Pav to finish. When she could she headed upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her and we followed.

Elena spoke to them quickly, somehow making it sound not so bad, and then headed up with Vi to get the room ready for him. I stayed downstairs waiting for news. Or the car. Or something.

Jeremy pulled up half an hour later, easing Clayton up in his arms as if he was made of paper, carrying him carefully in. I'd never seen him like this, not even when he'd had his heart stopped, this pale face, smell of blood and other stuff I couldn't place, half his head covered in the bandage that must have covered where they'd done the work. Pav helped him get the big guy upstairs while Kate and Logan asked questions which she answered smoothly and with experience. Like a nurse did.

Matt's arm snuck around my waist and he stared up, sniffing, not as fooled as easily as they were. He could probably smell how serious it really was under that bandage. "He's hurt?"

"Reece got a bit scared. Forgot how strong he is." I told him quietly, snuggling him into me as he watched his hero get carried up like that. "He's okay. They fixed him up."

"Are we going to school today?" He glanced up as Kate and Logan were shooed out of the bedroom.

"I'll ask Elena." I wasn't sure if Kate and Logan were, and if they weren't, it was unlikely Matt would go. He came up with me as I went upstairs and slid my head into the door as they lowered him down carefully. "Elena, are the kids going to school today?"

She nodded, reaching down to brush a curl out of Clayton's face, sliding onto the bed beside him. "Can you get them ready? He's just sleeping right now, they don't need to worry. The bus picks them up from the gate. Pav, can you-"

"The little ones?"

Elena nodded.

"Of course."

The two of us tried to ready little ones for the day and get the big ones dressed and at the gate on time. It more or less worked, Pav hurrying them to the gate while I finished off feeding the twins as I sang a song with the triplets, doing my best to balance both sets of babies equally. The nursery school possibility had gone for this year. I kind of wished we'd tried harder but it was too hecitc to get the hell out of Stonehaven long enough. She got about two minutes away, the twins crying for no apparent reason, the triplets screaming for me...

Pav reappeared at the door after two minutes, apparently having been running, and got the twins into the pram. I watched as she took them down the street with the big kids wandering along beside her under their umbrellas, the twins apparently calming down now they were being wheeled through the rain, the weather covers keeping them dry and the blanket keeping them snug.

It was funny how much difference one person taking them for a few minutes made. While Pav took the twins on a walk to the gate in the rain, once I could concentrate fully on the three toddlers, life got a tiny bit easier. Sort of. Susie had tongs and was pinching my leg, Lily was bouncing around like a frog- she had not gotten over this obsession since her birthday- and Dominic had a xylophone out and wanted me to watch him play. I had one pair of eyes and three toddlers wanting me to give them undivided attention.

In the middle of this Benicio Cortez returned and to my shock, handled the triplets like a professional. I kept forgetting he'd had children of his own and now had grandchildren. He took over Susie's tongs and gave each of them a giant feather as long as their arms each, in three different colours, which got them distracted long enough for us to sit down at the kitchen table.

I filled out the paper for the coursework while he helped by giving the triplets the attention they wanted, got a kitchen knife off Susie when she'd found it instead of tongs in the kitchen, and even managed to get Dominic to stop banging on the xylophone for a few minutes. He was right. I needed an office. There was no way I'd be able to study if they were like this.

A nanny too. I hated it. But maybe I did need help. Not now though. I couldn't do it now.

Pav came back, throwing her coat aside and getting the babies out one by one, glancing around at the minor chaos she'd left. Benicio nodded to her and I managed to get the form filled out for him. Lucas would get to work on the employment issue today. Contact me in a few days. I yawned, nodded, seeing it wasn't even eight yet. Some people needed a life outside working. Or was this normal now?

Hope and Karl turned up, thankfully, distracting the little ones more with their own three year old. The four three year olds entertained themselves in the living room with the three adults watching.

"There's a nursery school nearby." Jeremy's voice came from over my shoulder as Benicio checked over the paperwork for the course. "It isn't as fancy as the other private one you two liked but they're willing to take your three. Numbers have apparently dropped there."

"A nursery school?" I didn't give a damn about the private part.

"It has shown to help kids be more social. With your three, with how jealous I've seen them around the younger babies, it might be wise to get them used to other kids early." He didn't judge me, I knew that, but I felt terrible anyway. I was their mother. Shouldn't I have been able to teach them everything? Apparently not. Jeremy placed his hand on my shoulder. "Kate and Logan probably should have gone but Clayton... well, you know how he'd handle that idea."

Yeah. I did. He'd stalk the nursery school from the second they went in, to the second they came out, just like I had the urge to do. "Yeah."

"They'll play, they learn some basic skills, meet other children, and then come home. It might help you focus. Antonio picked it out." Jeremy sat down as he glanced at the paperwork for the course.

There it was _again_. That 'protect you' vibe I was getting from everyone. Like people wanted to sort my life out for me.

"He is their grandad. He should know what's safe."

"Believe me, he's got that place checked out." His lips twitched somewhat. "If you're interested I can get them in tomorrow. The place is so empty that they're desperate. They pick the kids up from the gate every morning, and one of us picks them up at night, a part of getting them used to school."

"Will they be safe?" I meant if they were attacked or stolen. But they were probably going to be ignored by that 'resistance' group of supernatural beings that wanted to take over the world with kids. They wanted to kidnap all 'special' children to take over the world. Elena and Clayton's twins were counted- they were the first children born of two bitten werewolves- and my twins would be. Werewolf and sorcerer hybrids. The triplets were more run of the mill with Nick being an ordinary hereditary werewolf. This didn't change the fact that I wanted to camp outside that place.

"Of course." Benicio spoke up. His eyes met mine. "You can afford a security guard. To watch the place. I can offer you one of mine, a trusted one, a half-demon. With your fortune and your position, I'd recommend you hire several."

Holy crap. A security guard. I kept forgetting that I was apparently rich now. This wasn't a pleasant reminder, to be honest, I wasn't that keen on being rich. Wasn't even sure what to do with the money. Pay off my student debts might be a good start.

"A half demon?"

"Yes. We employ only half-demons, vampires and sorcerers for security. Humans aren't that useful. His family would rely on you for healthcare. Cabal care for their employees, so he'd expect the same from you." Benicio lowered the papers. "But I imagine you'd pay it to keep the triplets watched."

Of course I would. I could apparently afford it. I nodded. I heard myself agreeing to them, to the two older men, aware that again I'd just had another decision made on my behalf. Antonio and Jeremy getting the triplets into nursery school, Benicio hiring a man for me and already arranging wages and health benefits. I tried to pretend that this didn't bother me.

He left soon after Elena came down, not even accepting a coffee, rushing for a plane back to work. I sat there and yawned, tucking my legs up, feeling buggered and not hungry for my own breakfast. Flashes of Reece's face kept haunting me, chasing me around, his laughter, or his trust, or ...and the way he'd lost that trust today. I would do anything right now to get him to come home. It was like loosing someone in my family all over again. '

Elena tried to eat beside me, as she kept nudging the plate of food at me, and I finally gave in and made myself get through the entire plateful. It felt like a chore right now. Chew, swallow, chew, swallow, chew, swallow. No pleasure in it. No hunger. Just the raw gaping hole that'd been left behind when I'd let him down.

Elena looked like she was struggling with eating as much as I was and I had to guess for different reasons, with Clayton upstairs so badly off, but we both somehow managed to do it. Finish off the 'right' sized breakfast for a werewolf.

"Elena. Why is everyone doing stuff for me?" I couldn't take it. I asked her quietly, her eyes blinking as mine met hers, and she leaned forward.

"You've seen a friend murdered, skinned and now your other friend's run off. We take care of each other. Just let us do it for a while." Elena reached out for my hand, squeezing gently. She added quieter, "I might need your help too for a few weeks. Clayton..."

"How bad is it going to be?"

"Vi warned me that he might have to relearn some things." She said it so quietly that I had to strain my ears. "It's the area of the brain for short term memory. He might not remember what happened, he might struggle for a while to hold onto short term memory, or he might struggle with words. Names."

"Or he might wake up and not understand what you are stressing about." Vi added, coming into the room, sitting on Elena's other side. "This is the worst case. He is not human."

"No." Elena tried to smile. She glanced at me though and I saw it, this trust in me, and that she might need me. Like they'd been trying to do for me, I'd have to try and be there for her, help her out.

"He is pretty stubborn." I added as Vi gave me a grateful look. "Even if something is difficult, he won't let it last long."

Vi moved around the table to check my head as I sat there, inspecting where the bricks had met my head, but she didn't seem concerned. "You can sleep now."

"Sleep? I don't feel tired anymore."

"Then go upstairs and lie in bed." She squeezed my shoulders. "Babies are happy. Triplets are playing. Children are at school. Your head is healing and sleep will hurry it. Go relax."

"That's an order." Elena added, a little firmer, but she looked tired too. "To both of us. I'm coming with you. Wake me if ..."

"I will. Rest. Both of you."

Elena followed me upstairs. When she said she'd be coming with me, she literally meaning it, and I had to admit I was glad for it. We crawled over the covers of my bed, tugging blankets over us, and somehow it worked. Her smell, my smell, the sounds of our bodies relaxing, it did ease me into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

Reece had not driven all night. We'd gotten out at one point and he'd left the car somewhere they could find it, he'd apparently 'borrowed' it from that scary guy, and we'd swapped cars several times from different hire places.

Then he'd stopped at a motel, after dropping the second hired car off, a motel near an airport. We must have crossed over state lines because this airport was still more or less working. I crawled into bed while he sat nearby, watching out the window, alert.

It was strange. I didn't fully understand it, except that what I knew, what I'd discovered, it would get me killed. Maybe he blamed himself.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Reece's eyes met mine.

"Did you tell me?"

"You'd have found out sooner or later." He shrugged. "I won't let them hurt you."

I lay there on the cheap bed, watching him in the darkness, a little confused. I did have feelings for him. I'd more or less decided they had been there since I'd met him in Miami. This entire thing felt like I was being swept along by a current I couldn't swim in. Reece seemed like that. Like he was sweeping along fast.

"Would they do that? Are werewolves really like that?" I asked quietly as he sat there. He didn't seem like ...well, actually, he did. I'd seen what he did to the guy in the alley, to his friends, I saw what he'd done. Them too.

"They killed my parents. Werewolves. My mother, she was raped by them, and she escaped. My father was supposed to kill her for it. Instead he fell in love with her and adopted me." He didn't meet my eyes as he spoke, quiet, staring down at his hands. I only noticed now that one of his hands wasn't quite right. Two fingers were half gone. "They found me out when I met Daniella. She was the daughter of the Alpha in Australia and her father made her trick me into giving him their address. He killed both of them, even though it'd been years, just for daring to have a child. I don't want to risk you getting caught up in this kind of world."

"Why not let them take away my memory?"

Reece's eyes met mine in the dim light then. He scowled softly, shifting, his knee jiggling a bit. "Because you shouldn't have to give it. Like my father shouldn't have been punished for loving someone or for raising me. Just because something is a rule doesn't mean it's a good rule. You wouldn't have told anyone."

I wouldn't have. I hadn't been looking to tell the world. I'd been looking because it was a hunger in me. A need to find out that what I already knew was real, to confirm that I wasn't mad. Not completely mad anyway. "Your fingers?"

"Couple of mutts- non-pack werewolves- scaring me off." He replied quietly, staring back down at his hand. "The pack adopted me."

There it was. Regret. He regretted running. They were his family. I didn't know much about wolves in general but I knew they were pack animals, like dogs, knew that they liked family.

"Then we'll take you home." I said quietly. His head swung up and I saw panic flare in his face.

"No fucking way. Not if they're going to harm you." Reece shook his head hard and sat back up straighter, returning his gaze to outside.

Was this because he'd called me his mate? This strange Australian, who I had dreamed about, who I'd liked, and now who was sacrificing his family? It felt like much too much, much too fast, it was a bit frightening.

I lay there on the bed, shutting my eyes, not relaxing in the slightest. The bed dipped, suddenly, and hands gently turned me onto my back. I opened my eyes to find Reece there, his face softening, reaching down to pull my face in his direction.

"Hey. It's okay. Whatever happens, it's okay." He said softly, hands stroking over my tense shoulders, eyes going to where my heart was racing. "We're not staying away forever. Just till they calm down and see I'm serious about this."

"You'll be in trouble when you get back." I said softly, breath hitching as he lowered his head down to kiss my bruised throat, hair tickling my face.

"Worth it." His head dipped down to kiss me. The 'only just met you' part of it was suddenly irrelevant all over again, particularly as his body came half over mine, and I found my mouth opening for him automatically.

"This is your idea of slow dating?"

"Kissing you in a motel?" He grinned at me. "Second date. First was interesting."

"Not many girls get taken to a dungon. No." I admitted. His grin got a little more easy at that. "You still don't know a thing about me."

"Okay. Tell me about yourself." Reece shifted back, lying on his side beside me, watching me. The way he looked at me, the intense stare, I felt like the most interesting creature in the owrld. And I hadn't spoken yet.

"I went to collage and ...well, I guess you know about that. My parents died when I was nine and Alan was nineteen. He's my half brother and he raised me while working and studying. He's been there ever since." I spoke quietly, as Reece's hand came out to touch my face, brushing hair back behind my ear.

"How did they die?"

"My mum drowned. Dad couldn't cope. He committed suicide a few months later." I said it quietly. It'd been ten years and I still felt pain, still felt my eyes go damp at it, and the confusion I'd had when I was that age. How I'd wondered if I hadn't helped my dad enough or something. He'd just given up when she'd died, like I watched him die, just faded away while alive. "I found him."

"Shit." Reece slid closer, forehead meeting mine, hand stroking down my arm. "You found him?"

"Alan wasn't home. He'd already gone for college. So I … called the ambulance and then they called him. I knew he was dead. I'd seen mum dead so I knew. I didn't sleep properly for months after. I kept seeing owls everywhere. Alan swore he couldn't see them but I saw them all over the place. He took me to see a shrink and I had to keep seeing one till I left for college. Post traumatic stress disorder or something." I frowned, the grief rising up, and not just about my parents. "Alan's a skin-walker?"

"He said he wanted you to be human. Said you might not change." Reece admitted with a frown. "He asked us to not tell you."

"I wish he had." It felt like he'd betrayed me. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt those rough lips come to meet mine, hesitant, careful. This time I kissed back, maybe a little desperately, feeling Reece happily meet it.

"You said I'm your mate." I opened my eyes.

"Yeah."

"What if I am a human?" The words hung there a while.

"So what?" Reece shrugged. "My mum was human. Dad loved her. You can be anything."

"They killed your parents?" I asked quietly. There was a flash of pain there, and suddenly it was me shifting closer, an arm over him as I wished I hadn't asked.

"The Alpha had a rule. Only he could have children. My mother wasn't supposed to live and my father was supposed to make sure she didn't. He left the pack and raised me as his own. Daniella... she led them to my parents. We met at University and we fell in love. She was so much like you then." He smiled a small sad smile, face twisted in pain. "I mean, she was cute. Easily distracted. So trusting. Wanted it to go slow too. She was afraid of men and I was the first one she trusted. I thought she'd tricked me when I saw her and her father with my parents, when I saw them... and I ran away. To here."

"She tricked you?"

"I thought she did. Her father told her he was going to welcome them back and she loved me." Reece rubbed at his eye with his hand, suddenly restless. "It wasn't like that. Her father was a bastard and she wasn't the same after what he ..."

"What?"

"Some werewolves are bastards." Reece growled softly. He flinched when I touched him, when I touched his face, and blinked as if he'd only just remembered I was there. "I lost it when I saw that guy trying to force you, because … Daniella's father sold her. Traded her. Gave her to a mutt here and she was raped exactly like my mother was. I can't … any coward like that, I can't pretend I don't want to kill him." His body shook, a shudder going down his spine, and I kissed him hard. Reece stiffened under my head, only for a second, then his body pushed me onto my back, coming over mine, kissing me hard as the tremors changed.

"I can't rush this." I said quietly, staring up at him, as he pulled his head up to gaze down at me.

"Why?" There was genuine confusion, like rushing it seemed like a natural thing for him to do. Then suspicon, the shadow of that rage I kept seeing. Reece was full of it, anger, pain, all this stuff I hadn't seen when I'd first met him. Had he hidden it?

"I had a boyfriend who was a bit ..."

"Did he force you?" Reece cut me off. His face was going red again. I felt that warning in me, that 'shut up', already wanting to flinch. Go quiet. Leave the room. It was too much like my ex-boyfriend.

"No. But he hit me and drank too much." I felt myself visibly cringe and saw him shift back, suddenly, the rage draining out of his face. "I got rid of him fast. But I don't like..."

"When I get angry?" I nodded and he flopped back in the chair, breathed out slowly, his head in his hands. "Shit. Sorry. It feels like I'm going crazy. Daniella, and you, and … I don't want anyone to hurt you. The idea makes me angry. I would never touch you."

"No, but he said that too. At first. Then he lost it." I said quietly as I sat up. "Daniella was your girlfriend?"

"I was protective of her. I still loved her and she kept trying to tell me it was over. I ..." He seemed a bit regretful now, staring at me. "I _made_ you come with me."

"I wanted to keep my memory." I reminded him, sliding up, staring at him. "You are hard to say no to, though."

He didn't answer. He returned his attention to the window, frowning, shifting back. "You get some sleep. I need to think."

I lay back down, slowly, watching him stare out the window at the rain, the occasional flash of cars lighting up the window. Reece didn't look at me again.

When I woke he was beside me, an arm over my waist, fast asleep. And we weren't alone. Nick, Anne's husband, was sitting in the room. So was his brother. Or something like that, I wasn't sure anymore, the two of them sitting there like they'd been there for hours.

Reece lifted his head and inhaled in a sharp hiss, sliding across me, between me and them in seconds.

"Reece, give it up." Nick yawned. "We're tired."

"She's not ..."

"She's not in trouble." Antonio spoke up, quiet, his dark eyes on me. "Did he drink last night?"

"No." I thought. I was asleep. It was a strange question though.

"I had bigger problems." He snapped, but he seemed to look a bit guilty. "How did you-"

"Clayton's car, hired cars, not so hard to trace." Antonio said as he stood up and came across. He ignored me, he hoisted Reece up, twisting his arm back. Reece struggled but ...somehow he wasn't fighting as well. "You drank."

"I might have."

Antonio sighed. "Okay. Here's what will happen. I'll ask for Selene to be left alone." I stared at shock at him, at this older man I barely knew, his eyes first on me and then back to Reece. "You have to come back and face the music though."

Nick yawned, stood and came to me. "Relax. Anne doesn't want you hurt. I'm going to take you back. No cage. You'll have to stay with us a bit longer though."

"No cage?" I asked quietly. "But I know stuff."

"Yeah. You do." Nick didn't look as concerned as Elena had. He glanced at his dad. "How fast can we get back?"

"Pretty fast." Antonio hoisted Reece outside and I hesitated.

"Anne'll kill me if I hurt you." Nick added, glancing at me. "You're okay. Reece is the one who should be nervous."

I followed him out slowly, watching Reece get shoved into the back seat, wincing as his head struck the side of the car. Antonio just shoved him in roughly. No wonder why he was used to violence. They were all violent and strange to me.

Nick's hand touched my arm, briefly, as he glanced back. He smiled a warm geninue smile. "Relax. He's in trouble for hurting Anne and Clayton. We're not going to kill him. Just make him sobar up in the cage."

"You won't hurt him?" I felt my voice come out without thinking about it, voice small, Reece's eyes coming to meet mine.

"Elena's going to have to punish him somehow." Antonio said as he stood there near the open door. "Let her worry about it."

She'd shoved him across a bed. I remembered that. I remembered the violent shove, the anger in her face, and shook my head. "I can't. I need to worry about it."

"All right." Antonio shut the door on Reece, coming around the car and came to me. I flinched a little as he came up, as his hand rose up, but he just stroked my arm gently. "We do fight. You know what we are. Wolves fight, not to be cruel, but because it's our way. He will be forced to run around the propery, if I'm the one to punish him, forced to run for a few hours and drink water. I'll work him till he has to vomit, till he's exhausted, then I'll make him train with me. Fighting. He's drunk. He's been drinking for weeks now and I'm going to make him sweat and vomit it all out."

It wasn't a pretty sight. Reece scowled but ...he didn't look distressed. I didn't like it. "That doesn't sound okay." I didn't know why, I didn't know why they'd even listen to me, why they'd even care what I wanted for Reece. But for some reason they did. For some reason, like Reece did, they were taking the 'mate' thing seriously.

"He's grieving over Daniella." Antonio said softer. The grip on my arm, so feathery before, tightened a fraction now. "Which I understand. My wife, Nick's mother, died a week before she did. I'm not doing this for pleasure. I'm doing this because he's my brother and I can't let him fall apart. He may have a harsher punishment when we've snapped him out of this. But he won't be killed. He won't be beaten up for the fun of it. We don't take pleasure in this."

"This isn't Reece that we know." Nick added. He glanced at his dad. "He's not like himself."

"No, he's not. You want to protect him. He's going to be protected." Antonio agreed. His eyes met mine again. "How would you punish him?"

I didn't know. I hesitated, bit my lip, staring back to Reece in the car. He sat there staring at me. "I suppose ...I don't know. He's a grown man."

"Yeah. But he's still broken some laws." Nick muttered. "And a skull. You're not going to be punished. Anne's his best friend though. My wife. We can't overdo his punishment or she'll be upset. So ...you can trust us."

I didn't know if I could. But I didn't know what else to think. "If I think up a better punishment on the drive back..."

"Then please, tell us." Antonio smiled a small smile then, lines appearing on his face, showing that this was something he did. The smile looked more natural on his face. "You've got the right to have a say in it. Come on. Let's get him home."

I got into the car. This wasn't what I'd expected when I'd believed this was real. Violence, and cruelty, and ….a hand snuck into mine, Reece shifting forward to grab it, squeezing it. I felt his lips brush my ear, gently.

"Relax. It's okay."

I wasn't sure I believed him.


	5. Collisions

**Selene**

I watched the trees fly past us, confused, and a little upset that they were going to hurt him. Or was it because he was accepting it so easily? I couldn't think up a better punishment though. We stopped for breakfast and they left us alone in the car. Reece didn't fight now. He just sat there. Quietly. Doors unlocked and he was still sitting there quietly.

"You let them hit you?" I asked quietly.

"I heal fast. Look. Elena cracked a rib yesterday and I can breathe normal. It's a bit tender but-" He was grinning, showing off, but when I turned my head around the grin faded. "It's not that bad."

It seemed bad to me. It really did. I slid into the back seat and shoved the top up. Reece was still mottled blue, purple and red from whatever had been done yesterday. There was a nasty lump where he'd pointed.

I tried to ignore his body, as I ran my hands over the brusies, taking this all in. The way his stomach contracted when my fingers touched it, his eyes fixed on me, cringed when I prodded the spot.

"Yeah, that's the spot." He gritted his teeth slightly. "Your ex-boyfriend did something like this? Did you dob the bastard into the cops?"

"When he broke my jaw and tried to-" I felt him inhale sharply, "-I did. He was my college professor. Got him fired and a restraining order on him." I frowned. "How long till you heal this?"

"The bruising will be gone by tomorrow. The bastard did _what_?" I felt my head twisted up. Reece's eyes fixed in mine. "You never sai-"

He cut off, blood draining from his face, his eyes widening, going past me to the front window. My head twisted around to see what'd cut him off. Then I saw her. Standing on the side of the road up ahead, waiting to cross the road as if she couldn't quite get over her habits.

But Reece could see her.

Why could he see her if she was a ghost? I scrambled out of the car, nearly tripping on seat belts, and glancing at the place the older men had gone for breakfast.

"Dani, wait!" She was crossing the road. Ignoring us.

I saw her then, saw her all over again, staring at herself with this fury that made my blood run cold. Daniella staring at herself. Glaring at _herself_. "You want to stop him?" She hissed at me, her head twisting around to meet mine, green eyes narrowed. "I'd kill that bitch if they'd let me."

Me? Stop him? Stop a fully grown werewolf?

"Fucking hell, woman, go!" She tried to shove me. I felt a thrill, a shock where her hand went through me, and went. Tried to run, my legs shaking like jelly, totally confused about this.

She glanced back at us, Daniella, as I ran at Reece and caught his arm. Her eyes weren't green though. They were close to it, this pale blue, almost glowing in the dim grey light of the day, but they weren't green. Reece didn't seem to notice her or me, he ran faster, and ...she ran faster too. He ran faster, the two of them too fast for my legs to keep up with, and then she just matched it. It was like he was chasing a rainbow- that impossible perfect match in speed. They were skidding past people, starting to get away from me, nearly knocking people over as he chased her through the streets. The grey sky let go above us as she led him through the streets of this tiny town, circling around, making the ground get slippery and impossible for me to rush on.

She left not a single foot print. This Daniella, this one we could both see, while we were running through puddles and leaving prints, she wasn't doing it. Her feet met puddles, they splashed, but that was about it. And she just ran faster as Reece pushed himself.

I lost sight of them after a few minutes, panting hard, unable to physically keep up with it. I bent over, breathing fast, sweat and rain running down my face and back. I managed about two minutes of running. Reece could apparently run like that, while injured, while half-drunk...

Some part of me, some part that still had enough oxygen to think, wondered what I was worried about. He was super-athlete even with a fractured rib and a bruised body. I couldn't run two minutes without nearly passing out in the nearest gutter. The cast over my own fractured arm, it was getting wet, and I held it under my stomach as I tried to stand up and look for where Reece had gone with this Daniella.

"You okay?" Nick slowed down beside me. "Where'd he go?"

"That way. Chasing Daniella." I pointed.

He flinched. I saw it, he actually flinched, like someone had prodded him with a needle. "Daniella?"

"The woman that died. She was ..." I needed to breathe, sucking in more oxygen, still not recovered. I had to get fitter for this.

"It's okay. Breathe." I felt him touch my back, just for a second, like he wanted to comfort me but he didn't want to touch me. It was a bit weird when he had his hands on Anne all the time.

"She was crossing the road." I breathed out a huge lungful of air and spoke at the same time. "Reece chased her. She and he ran. That way. She had different eyes. Daniella, the ..." Another deep inhale, as I got some oxygen back. "The ghost one. Told me to chase him."

"You saw her ghost?" He moved forward again. "Okay. I'll chase him. Breathe." Then he was gone again, running through the rain, running with that impossible fast pace that Reece'd had.

The word 'werewolves' drifted through my head again. Running fast. I had this sudden urge to get a notebook and write it all down. They beat each other up, they healed fast, they ran like Olympic champions and apparently didn't think a cracked rib was a cause to rest like I would have. I would have been curled up in bed moaning abut it.

"It's okay." A voice beside me shocked me. He'd been so quiet. Antonio lifted an umbrella above us. "Let Nick run. He's gotten a bit unfit lately."

Unfit? Was this guy kidding me? I tried to smile as my breathing started to slow, heart slowing, my own body still not recovered from two minutes of hard running. Suddenly a stitch made me hiss in pain, my muscle in my chest getting upset, and changed my mind there. "I think I'm the one that's not fit. Ow."

"You could do with some more weight. It'd be easier for your body to keep up." Antonio commented lightly. "Muscles need energy. Speaking of energy, here."

I was given a steaming hot container and a fork. Antonio started back to the car, waiting for me to turn around and follow him, and we headed back slowly in the rain. Scrambled eggs and toast was inside and I ate it gratefully, accepting the coffee when he offered it, sitting in the side of the car as Antonio stood beside it with the umbrella, his dark eyes tracing across the town. People started to vanish as the rain took on a heavier edge to it.

"What do you hear?" I asked as I watched his head twitch around, eyes focused, like he was listening to something I couldn't hear. Another thing to add to the notebook. He didn't answer at first. I added softer, "Come on. I already know and I'm curious."

"They're getting a bit too far to listen to." His lips twitched as he met my eyes. "Reece shouldn't have told you."

"How many strange things do you need before you're in this club? I see ghosts, apparently." I muttered.

He smiled a little more then. "Elena wants to test that. She's got a friend coming today who can see them. There's no club. Just self-protection." Antonio went quiet as a small group of people past by. I watched his nostrils flare, watched his head twist around as he listened to them when they were speaking too soft for me to hear, as if privacy was a totally different concept for him.

Or was it something else he was listening to?

"All right. We better follow them in the car." He sighed and stood straight, lifting himself off the side of the car. "You can eat it while I drive."

I got in and pulled my seatbelt on. Antonio started the car and moved away, his eyes darting around, his ears... almost literally... twitching. I tried to eat quietly. Wondered if he could hear my stomach gurgling. How embarrassing... and forget trying to hide a fart around these people, I realied with horror, remembering the one I'd let off before.

I did love Twilight. And I supposed I could say I prefered Jacob, at least before, but before I'd never stopped to think about the reality that came with his 'gift'. Now that I thought about it, maybe a dead person who had no super-hearing, super-strength or super-smell was a better choice after all. Why was I debating this right now?

A piece of scrambled egg fell off the fork that'd been hovering there and I flushed, trying to fish it out before it touched the clean seats. Clean expensive seats. Had to focus more. I jabbed myself a little with the fork. Where were we? Just down the street. I always drifted off too much in thoughts.

"There they are." Antonio said after a few minutes more of driving. Reece was standing there in the rain, soaking wet, his blonde curls now dark and his shoulders slumped. Nick looked just as wet. There was no sign of Daniella. "Go sit in the back with Reece, Selene."

I got out and went to sit in the back as Reece slid in, his face dark, shoulders slumped. He didn't even look at me, he was breathing hard, and I swore I saw tears mixing with the rain and dribbles of water coming out of his curls. But he turned his head away and I wondered if I'd only imagioned it.

"She got into a car." Nick said quietly, He glanced down the highway nearby, we could see it from here, and pointed at it. "It went that way. There. That red car."

"Sorry, Selene, looks like we're not getting you back to your brother as fast as we planned." Antonio turned the car around carefully on the road and headed down the street, suddenly speeding, the force of it pressing me back into the car seat. "Towel's in the back behind you. Can you grab one for Reece and Nick, please?"

I got up and unclipped the seatbelt, sliding up to get into the back part and search for the towels. The force of the speed knocked me over as he skidded around a tight curve onto the highway, nearly falling into Reece's lap, his hands appearing on my waist.

I found the towels and sat back down. Nick took one and Reece stared at me, white faced, stared at me like that till the seat belt was back on and he was sure I was safe. Maybe it was because we'd already been in one car accident together. I reached up to throw the towel over his head and the dark look faded a little from his eyes when I rubbed his face, trying to dry it.

"It can't be Daniella though." I said, softer when Reece flinched, the dark look returning. I wished I hadn't said anything because that expression scared me.

"It's not." His lips squeezed together as his hands took the towel off his head and started to dry his hair. "That's the problem."

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

When I woke up and saw that Elena was downstairs, discussing Reece's punishment with Jeremy, I got that he was now in deep deep shit. Up to his nostrils. Attacking a pack member and blurting out our secret? Either one on its own … it was bad.

The two of them together?

I stood there quietly on the stairs as I listened. I'd missed hwat it was, what they'd agreed was fair, only hearing Elena agree quietly that it would be delayed until this was all over unless he broke one more law. If he did, she'd have to do it now.

Whatever it was. It sounded pretty dire.

"And you, Anne, can stop snooping." She said. I jumped, sliding out, feeling a bit guilty as Elena raised an eyebrow at me. "How did you sleep?"

"I slept. I don't know. You're punishing Reece?" I sat down beside at them at the table. The toddlers came in to crawl into my lap, all three of them attempting it, asking for lunch. I had to say no to them, which they weren't impressed by, but I saw they'd already had lunch. It was all over their faces. She didn't answer as I grabbed a wet cloth and cleaned their faces, ignoring their protests, trying to get the mess cleaned up.

"We will be when we're not in this crisis." She said softly, smiling as Dominic gave up trying to et me to lift him up. Elena picked up up and held him close, kissing the reddish curls, inhaling slowly. "Maybe sooner if he doesn't snap out of it."

"How?"

"That's not important right now." Jeremy spoke up. He let Lily and Susie climb into his lap. "Elena's not going to hurt him, if that's what you're worried about."

That was what I was worried about. I smiled weakly and let him squeeze my hand. "Any news about Selene?"

"Yeah. Jeremy reported Clayton's car stolen and it was found near a car hire place. It was pretty easy from there. Nick and Antonio found Selene and Reece in a motel. Reece was drunk again and Selene was scared silly, Nick thinks, but not for herself. He thinks something went on between the two of them." Elena laughed softly as she reached up to rub her head. "They're driving back now. Antonio will be the one to punish him."

"I guess I can't request to help."

"It's probably better to let him do it." Jeremy said quietly, hugging Susie as she started to draw on him, not looking the least bit concerned about this. "Tonio might be sweet to you but he can be ruthless when he's angry. And he's angry."

"So am I." I muttered. "At least give me a chance to hit him."

"If you want." Elena smiled somewhat and stood up. "Clayton's going to wake sometime soon. I'll be upstairs. Let me know if you hear anything."

Jeremy glanced at his phone, frowned and went to plug it in as she headed upstairs. "You want some lunch?"

It wasn't really a question. It was more of a suggestion, one he'd keep suggesting till I gave in, so I nodded and dodged my toddlers as I went to get my own lunch.

An alarm made us both lift our heads, Jeremy heading for one of the security panels I more or less ignored, frowning at it. He opened it up and gazed at it, swore softly as he switched off the alarm, and lifted up two toddlers at once.

"What?"

"Little bit of trouble. Get the kids upstairs." He replied, already heading for the stairs, Elena's feet coming back down. "Elena, get the twins."

She grabbed the twins as I lifted up Dominic, Jeremy had the girls, and headed upstairs with him. We put them in the room with Clayton- Vi's sleepy eyes meeting ours as she stood up- and I waited, trying to figure out what it was. What had gotten us doing this. The rain more or less drowned out the sound of everything outside.

"I'll stay in here with Vi and Pav." Jeremy's eyes met mine. "You think you can intimidate a mutt?"

"Yeah, I guess, why?"

"One just knocked our gates down. Elena will stay inside and come out if needed. Vi, Pav, you two aren't apart of the pack, so I need you two to stay here and watch these ones with me." Jeremy spoke through the door to them and they nodded. Five kids under five and an injured man needed protection, I had to guess, it required the three of them. Just in case.

Elena followed me downstairs again as I tugged the jacket off, deciding it restricted my arms too much, her hand meeting my bare arm gently. "They may have heard Clayton was in hospital and decided to come. Anne, head on down first. Stay calm."

"I'm calm. A little annoyed but calm." I reassured her. Tied my hair back, which made her smile a little, breathing in slowly. I hadn't actually tried intimidating a mutt for a long time. This was Clayton's job and he was good at it.

"Karl is probably coming from the other end. The house we rented for him is close enough for him to hea-" She cut off, voice lowering as we heard it. The faintest trace of feet on wet driveway, splashing through a puddle, Elena's eyes moving to the door. She didn't need to continue. If his house really was close enough to the gates to hear a car crash through them then he'd probably be able to figure out it wasn't a good thing.

I stepped outside and watched as a pair of people came along the driveway, leaning against the wall, relaxing as I inhaled slowly. Dampness, wet cloth, wet hair, one of them a mutt. That meant the other was something else. Mutts teaming up with non-werewolves. It was just another sign of the times.

"You lost?"

"We heard your enforcer's dead." The mutt sneered. Didnt' look the least bit upset about it either. "Need a new one?"

"No." I replied, stood up slowly, stretching. "But seeing as it's raining and I'm lazy, feel free to leave." I saw this wasn't their intention. This was to do with Elena, female, and their assumption even now that she was gone without him. When they stepped closer I fixed my eyes on them in an attempt to stare them down. "What now? You lost?"

"We want the cure." That was the man beside him. He spoke up, looking a little more nervous than the mutt. I could smell the fear drifting off him even through the smell of rain and mud. "That's it. I can pay. Lo-" He was cut off by the mutt as he held out cash, the mutt snatching it, and advancing on me. Up the porch. It was a bit too close to the house for my liking.

I shoved him back hard, my movement sudden, shoved him right back into his frightened friend. "I said, leave. Didn't I?"

The mutt tried to stand, covered in mud and water, his scowl obvious now. I'd treated him months ago at the hospital when the disease had ripped through the werewolf community, disabling almost every one's strength, hearing and scent, and I knew he was probably one of the ones still weak. The treatment centres, run by the very man who'd created the disease, had been closed for close to a month now. He couldn't get his hands on the addictive temporary cure.

So he wanted the permanent one. The one that didn't leave him helpless like a human.

"Three thousand dollars." The other man said, trying to get the cash off the mutt, only to be swung at. "Look. I can pay another three grand. Three grand each."

"What's your name and species?" I asked, ignoring the angry mutt, standing up a bit straighter. I wanted to know for more reasons than social small talk. I wanted to check the files of threats, see if we had his name on file, see if we had details.

"Sorcerer. Steve. Steve Fisher." It was such an ordinary name for someone who was apparently a magic user, I had to resist smiling, had to keep my cold stare on him. "I – I just want to be normal again."

"Did you ask the Cabal?"

"They said no. I heard that you're all cured."

"Do you always destroy the property of people you want to help you?" Elena's voice came from behind me as she came outside. She had that same cold look, that indifferent stare that gave me chills even, her arms crossed. "Three thousand, ten thousand. The answer's the same either way."

"That wasn't me. I just... he needed a car here and I … he drove it through. I swe-" The sorcerer was shoved aside as the mutt suddenly tugged something out of his jacket, his hand shaking.

A gun. The idiot had a gun. Out of all the things mutts normally wouldn't have... and it was a sign of what we were going to face till all the mutts were back to normal. "Go get it. Go get the cure." He snapped, his hand shaking so hard I wondered if it'd go off by accident. "Why do you get to decide? Decide who's good enough. Who gets to be in your pack. Who gets protection and fo... get the fucking cure!"

I moved between him and Elena, shielding her from it, even though every fibre of my being screamed at me that it was a gun and I shouldn't be anywhere near it. I kept calm somehow, sort of, except for a tremor in my thigh that wouldn't go away. "We can't offer you the cure."

"Bullshit!" He fired it, fired it at my feet, trying to scare me. It worked but somehow, maybe out of shock, I couldn't move. I wouldn't have been able to if he'd seriously aimed. "Give me the cure!"

"We only got a few samples. The rest is being made now." I replied, trying to keep my voice low, trying to not piss my pants as his shaking hand re-aimed it at me. Or at Elena. Either way he was trying to harm one of us. "Put the gun down. Keep pointing it Elena and I'll personally make sure you never see it."

"Bullshit. Give me the cure!" There was an edge of madness to his words, his eyes wild, his hand shaking so hard that the rain was making it slip in his grip. "I don't want to fucking live like this. Like a fucking human!"

The gun went off, a loud shocking bang that set off one of the kids inside, and almost straight away I felt a red hot poker jab into my hip. The one that'd always been funny since I'd been captured. No time to think, to care, I used it to throw myself at him, weight and all, slamming my fist hard into the man's jaw, shoving the gun to one side as it went off again, as he tried to shoot Elena again. I bit his wrist hard, growling, ignoring the spurt of blood and only let go when he let go of it. Threw it to one side, slamming my fist again into his face, until someone was grabbing me and pulling me back.

Karl grabbed the sorcerer, I saw, had him restrained. Elena was pulling me up, my leg trying to give way as I tried to put weight on it, rage at the asshole. For attacking my alpha. He tried to shoot Elena. My Alpha.

I struggled, trying to get my fists back on him, not caring if he was still or not, teeth bared, growling, my hands shaking. It took her some time to get through to me, to calm me down, to remember that he'd shot me. Hadn't he?

I turned to check on Elena, check her over, seeing that behind her there was now a hole in the door instead of in her. Elena's blue eyes locked in mine as she said, firmly, loudly, "Quieten down."

I did. It was an order and I did, stopping, muscles trying to unlock themselves. Elena's eyes only released mine when she was satisfied I'd calmed down, going down between us to my legs. I followed her gaze.

It was another lovely scar for Nick to admire later. Not that bad, not like it felt, it felt like he'd just rammed a burning poker into my thigh and kicked me a few times for good measure. The reality was a little less dramatic. The bullet had grazed the inside of my thigh, cutting through jeans and skin and leaving a bloody mess, and missed Elena as it found the door. Blood dripped down into the dark blue fabric and it felt worse than it looked.

"What do you want to do with this one?" Karl asked, hoisting up the sorcerer who looked terrified, and she shrugged. "Basement?"

"We'll get the Cabal to come get him." Elena agreed. The look on his face made it obvious she'd picked the worst choice. In other words, the best choice. "Come inside, Anne. Good going."

She tugged my pants off as I leaned against the wall, Karl hoisting the sorcerer downstairs, and I pressed something against it while Elena went upstairs to get Jeremy and call for sorcerer backup. They weren't our problem.

It didn't take long for him to be taken away and the werewolf was taken away by Karl. Jeremy stitched up the wound in my thigh, wanting to be sure, and I pretended to smile as the triplets watched my face from the living room.

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

I fell asleep after ten minutes. It wasn't a natural sleep. I fell into it as if I was pulled there, dragged there, into a place that was muted color, screaming people, angry people. A child. A woman staring at me. She was not real though, her eyes were nothing, like she was void. Black. Nothing existed there, nothing ever would, she was hollow. But she was alive. She was staring at me.

People paced around her. Daniella was one of them, screaming at her, children, girls, boys, people screaming at her. And still she fixed her eyes on me and I felt a chill run down my skin as she reached for me. As the void reached for me too.

Then I was awake, shaken awake, my heart racing as Reece shook me out of it. It was like he'd slapped me, though I doubted he had, and I stared around. The car was speeding like it had been before, land racing past us, fields and trees, the rain pouring hard on the car. Something was wrong.

"Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong." Reece was trying to comfort me, his jaw tight, stroking my back.

"Slow down. Slow down the car. Stop chasing her." My teeth were chattering, skin clammy, afraid. We had to stop chasing her. We had to stop it now. Before the speed had been a nice thrill, an exciting ride. Now it scared me and the urge to scream at the thick older man was rising big time.

Reece snapped, "Do it before she panics then," as his hand grasped mine so hard it was hurting but for once I wasn't as worried about that.

Antonio slowed, almost right on time, because we saw something. He and I saw it at the same time. A big white shape on the road, standing there, fur bristled and teeth bared as the car went directly at it. Antonio swore and swerved off the road, tyres sliding on the damp road, the car going right off into a ditch.

We all flew forward, seatbelts catching, as the front of the car met a tree and skidded again, through a fence, sliding around several times before it came to a rest in the muddy field.

There were owls everywhere. Owls on the car. Owls on the ground. Flying overhead. Other things, I saw them through the crowd, a horse, foxes, a couple of crows, eagles, other species, but mostly just owls of all shapes and sizes.

"Reece, do you see them?"

"The wolf?"

"The owls." I stared in wonder at them as they gathered around. Felt myself start to cry and I didn't know why I was doing it, except that I wanted to cry, and it wasn't out of unhappiness. It was just this release of something inside me. And as I cried I felt myself unclipping the seat belt and getting out of the car, ignoring Reece or Antonio or Nick, ignoring the three of them. I felt compelled to get out of the car, to walk through the muddy field towards the road, feet sinking up to ankles in the thick muddy grass, several cows ignoring me. Owls followed, foxes, the horse trotted some distance away, wings swooping overhead so close that I should have felt the wind from it. Was that a tiger over there? It didn't matter. My focus was on one thing and one thing only.

Arms tried to grab me as I stepped over the fence, voices shouting, the wolf coming from the road as she made her way to me. She bared her teeth as someone tried to pull us away from each other, a low deep warning growl that made it clear she wasn't in the mood for this, she wasn't going to play a game.

How did I know that?

"Tell Reece to back off or you'll kick him in the balls. Worked for me." Daniella called. I noticed she was in amongst the crowds of animals, swearing as they tried to push her back, and she wasn't alone. A dark haired woman was beside her, struggling with the same problem, the animals trying to push them both away. "It's a bloody zoo. There it is, Eve." She pointed through the crowd as a big dog tried to pull her back by the clothing she wore.

It was here too. I should have been afraid. The owls were swooping around it, circling it, keeping it contained. The creature. The monster. No face, no legs, nothing about it natural at all, just void. Just void, worse than shadow or black, like touching it was going to have you dragged into another place.

No one else saw it.

Reece's arms tightened around me as he shoved me behind him, the wolf coming closer, and then Antonio was nearby trying to frighten it off. Werewolves frightening a wolf off. I felt it inhale slowly, felt it smell both animal and man, and snort at them softly through her nostrils. Mate and wolf-man. Idiots.

It attacked as they tried to shove it back, but not to kill. To discipline. Dragged me away from them as fast as it could, teeth closing around my sleeve, pulling me out of their grasp. It did, the second it got a hold of me, it had me pulled away from them. I flowed out like water, like fluid, flowed out easily and leaving only a silver cord behind me.

I glanced back to see my own body slump, tears still running down my face, and I wasn't in it. I was attached to it by the silver cord but I wasn't there. The wolf nudged me as she watched them lift me up and carted back away from her. But her attention wasn't on them now. It was on me. She snorted again, a strange sound of amusement, and then turned her brown eyes to fix on mine.

I saw it. Saw her entire life. Birth, pack, hunting, ice, puppies. I felt shock as I saw her show me where she first met the wolf men, when she ran with one as Pack, when she first laid eyes on Reece and chose him as her mate for the two of us. She had always known this was where she was coming. Then the journey across ice, land, stone, through great mountains filled with prey, through tree and stone never seen, coming from a place of ice and stone to a place where prey was plentiful, where man-wolf hunted and water came from the sky. She had been looking for a long time. Through the cold, and then through the hot, and now coming to find me in the cold again when the rain made the hunting hard.

She didn't see the world like I did. She smelt the world. She felt the world under her paws. Measured it by the prey. By the wolf around. Her pack was long gone.

Then I felt it, my own mind merging with hers, and felt my own life story pour into her mind as easily as she'd given me hers. Two rivers meeting, creating one single river, this was how she put it and I had to agree with the image.

She saw my life. Saw my childhood, saw my mother, saw the love and laughter of my own 'pack', and then the end of my pack as my mother never came up from the water and my father's weakness ended him. I had to see it as she did, had to go through it all over again, but she strayed closer, warm course fur under my hands, heart near me. Ignored the men as they tried to shoo her away. Alan. The bird. Saw the people telling me I was wrong. Collage, the professor flattering me with attention, love letters, and how awestruck I was of one of the leading people in UFO research paying attention to me, and how good looking he was. She didn't understand 'UFO research' or what it meant for a professor to try and attract a student, but she understood 'higher ranking', and understood this was wrong somehow. She growled softly as we shared in the memory of his drinking, his rages, and who came out the loser in all of it. I used to give him pleasure orally, adored him. But I refused to sleep with him because I wasn't ready to take that step yet and when he tried to force me, breaking my jaw in the process, he was caught by my room mate, I reported him to the police from hospital. Showed the letters, reported the attempted rape, the broken jaw a dead giveaway and had him fired and charged. She didn't understand these details either- just that I'd reported this creature to an Alpha figure and that he had been punished. This satisfied her and she relaxed.

The search for answers. This was how it ended, how our rivers merged. Ending with a hunt, she informed me, a hunt for each other. I had my way. She had hers. We hunted, we travelled, and now we met. Now we merged.

Now she died.

I flowed back up into my body before I could answer her, before I could feel shock at her simple statement, flowing up into my mate's arms. Reece was fixed on the wolf, teeth bared, still growling softly. But he looked confused. His nostrils kept flaring, his head shaking somewhat, the aggression less than Antonio's genuine threat.

Pushing him back, I stood, and went to the wolf as she lay down. Her heart slowed when I touched her, easing back, the owls, the horse, the foxes, the eagles and crows, even the tiger coming to circle us. Wait. She slid out of her own body and the heart stopped, going to stand near us, as I stroked the fur that no longer held her. My fur.

It was my skin. She had given me her skin and her life.

A car had stopped nearby. I hadn't heard it before. Neither had the others, but hwen Alan got out, when several of his friends got out, including some of the elderly, I felt not shocked at all.

"Guess you were wrong, eh?" One of the women laughed and clapped Alan across the head. "Let's take her home and get started."

"What about those three?" The older man pointed behind me.

I turned around to look at Antonio, Reece and Nick. Nick looked muddy and annoyed, the car apparently stuck and not working, trying to wipe his hands clean on the wet grass.

"Need us to call for help?" Alan called as they came out behind me. He was coming over with a blanket in his hands, the woman beside him, the two of them kneeling beside the wolf's body. I had this sudden urge to bite. No. Not my urge. It was her urge, as she watched them handle her, but they didn't touch her skin. They were using the blanket to cover her from the rain.

"I think..." The old man came across, slowly, carefully. "It would be wiser if Yvvone takes them back to the town near and then returns. Don't you?"

He met Alan's eyes who nodded, glancing at the woman, who glanced at the muddy men and groaned softly.

"We should stay and-"

"This is private now." The old man met Antonio's eyes. "This is not werewolf business."

His business, though, the wolf nudged me. She fixed me with a look, then her eyes went to Reece, pushing against my leg.

"She wants him to stay." I said quietly, to Alan, to the old man, then glanced at Reece. He stood there looking like he didn't know what the hell was going on. A wolf came out, got them to crash, then attacked us, now it had died and … he knew what was going on, I realised, and it had stunned him. "The wolf. That sounds mad, but I think she's ..." Another harder nudge, teeth trying to nip me, "No, she really does."

"Then he stays. But the rest have to go. Please do not call a truck for a few hours."

We watched Nick and Antonio get into the car with the woman and leave. I didn't know what was happening. Only that I was given a knife. An ancient knife, from the looks of it, and Reece was told to stand back and turn away till it was done.

"Tell your wolf to go away. This isn't easy to see." Alan said softly. "My owl refused to talk to me after. The only one permitted to do it is you though. Don't let her offer go to waste. After, we can take it over for you, but this is your skin. You have to accept it this way.

I stared at the knife, then at the body, connecting it to 'skin'. I had to skin the body. My wolf. I had to skin her.

"I-"

"It's just this part. I'm going to talk you through it. Once it's done, the skin will be treated by me. It's usually done by your father and mother but-" Alan breathed out slowly, squeezing his eyes shut, his hand coming to rest on my hand. "-Dad would have wanted us to do it for you. That's your grandfather. Yvvone is your mother's sister."

"My grandfather and aunt?" I didn't even know I had one. I stared at the old man who stood there, rain running down his face, waiting patiently.

"Go ahead. I'll talk you through it. Reece, don't turn around." Alan couldn't resist shooting another order at Reece, who muttered something under his breath, his arms crossing. Then he slid back and waited for me to be ready.

I nodded, swallowed hard, and gripped the knife.

When it was done, they had me pull it onto a blanket, and I stepped back into Reece's chest. He had turned around at some point, apparently, and not thrown up. I wanted to. I felt it threatening to do it even now, this ...I couldn't look. I turned around and did not resist when Reece offered arms and a chest to hide head in, even if he was soaking wet. He looked white too.

"Is this how they have to do it if they want a human?" He asked, his breathing a little too fast, his arms shaking.

"This is her friend. One of the wolves." I heard Alan say quietly, to the man, who breathed out slowly with a soft 'Ah'.

"I don't know. We don't … try it." The older man, my grandfather, admitted. "This is something we are going to talk to your Alpha about."

"What's happening to her body?"

"It'll be buried at Forestwatch, if the woman allows it. We treat it with respect, Beth, it's okay. Your aunt's a horse. Try skinning and burying something that big with respect." Alan was trying to get me to laugh. It didn't work.

"She's had enough." Reece muttered.

He was right. I'd had enough. I'd had enough of this. He seemed okay though, less panicked, less angry. The wolf was moving around him in slow circles, inhaling, prodding his leg, though he didn't seem to notice her. Obsessed with him.

A blanket came around my shoulders and I let my grandfather lead me into the car, Reece not far behind, Yvvone waiting for us. We were all soaking wet and I saw the trunk open, saw Alan and my grandfather lower two heavy blankets worth of … into the trunk. The owls, the birds, everything, they'd all started to vanish. Even the wolf had gone now. Only an owl remained, Alan's owl, circling around the empty area as it grew dark.

We drove back, Reece's arm across my shoulders, and I accepted it. Shut my eyes and fell asleep, the warmth nearby, the slightly faster than usual thud of a heart near my ear.

We only woke when he was dropped off at the gates into Stonehaven, dumped there, and I blinked sleepily as I saw they'd been dented and knocked over. But before I could ask we were pulling away again, seeing Reece run for the house, yawning as I tried to sit up.

"I checked on the way down." Alan reassured me from beside me. "Nothing's wrong."

It looked odd though. Maybe someone had lost control in the slippery rain. When we got to Forestwatch it was still raining, raining hard, the tents glowing in the darkness. There was a fire in one of them, a fire in the fireplace inside the building, most of the people inside. I was taken into the tent with the fire inside it and sat down by Yvvone, who left me with a pile of clothing and waited outside till I'd changed.

This tent was round, a hole in the top, framework around it. It had a real door though. Strange looking compared to the modern tents everywhere else, I thought as I accepted a hot drink.

"This is wine." I realised when I'd sipped it. Tasted the bitterness.

"Mulled wine. Not really alcoholic and it warms you up. I'm your mother's sister, by the way." She sat down beside me. Yvvone must have changed while I had, she was dry too now, rubbing a towel against her hair with one hand as she reached for the fire with the other. "This is my yurt. I know everyone else likes their tents but I like yurts. Nothing like a real fire."

"You knew my mom?"

"She was a good woman. Alan insisted on raising you." She smiled a small sad smile, glancing sideways at me. "Your grandfather agreed. I made sure you were okay though, from time to time, made sure he accepted a little money. Your mother wasn't like us so he wanted you to feel like you could be human."

"But I'm not."

"No." She agreed. "Wolf. That's a surprising one. Your wolf must have come from Alaska or somewhere for this. I don't think there's many white wolves south of Alaska."

"You're a horse?"

"Yeah." She grinned. Nodded towards a large bag. "Pain in the ass to cart around but being a horse has advantages. I see her from time to time, my mare, wandering around outside trying to graze. They can't shake those habits. You'll see your wolf too."

"Did your horse pick your ...um, boyfriend?" I didn't want to say mate. It sounded too odd.

"She has ideas about it. I'm guessing that's why the werewolf hung around. Your wolf decided on him."

"He decided on me first." I said it, flushed as she laughed and squeezed my shoulders, embarrassed.

"Well, good on you. Muscles. Accent. Tan. Your mum would have been impressed. We always liked accents. We've got a family tradition of marrying men or women from other cultures, you know. You look like you're nicely balanced in genes. I got Dad's Irish genes." She shrugged lightly, touching her paler skin, the freckles, her hair a lighter brown than my dark hair. "Your grandmother was half native American. Your grandfather was a mix of Spanish, Mongolian and Irish. Family tradition, as I said, we like accents. Guess it might be an Australian next."

"We're not getting married or anything." I muttered, sipped the wine, face redder as she teased me. This was what it was like to have an aunt?

"You need help to sneak out with him, tell me. How old are you? Sixteen?"

"Nineteen."

"So much time passed already?" She breathed out slowly, shook her head, the damp hair sending droplets onto the fire. "The rain makes you look younger."

The door opened to the yurt and Alan came in, with my grandfather, the two of them dry and cleaned up also now.

"Your skin's going to take some time." My grandfather informed me as he sat around the fire. "Alan is speaking to you on behalf of your father."

Alan started to talk then as Yvvone served out more mulled wine for the two of them. Explained our history, that we weren't from America, from any country, that we just appeared. No one knew why or now, just that in every landmass, we started to merge with animals. It was a long time ago, when we relied on skins for warmth, when some of our ancestors found that the skins made them shift. They formed groups, or were seen as the witchdoctors, or as the healers, finding protection and being treasured. But in some places this changed and they had to gather together in groups for protection, civilizations rose, the skin-walkers hunted, civilizations fell and we survived on. We hid. Other races came from us. Werewolves. Shapeshifters. Shamans. The cougar skin-walkers. Necromancers. Children of the skin-walkers that did not behave like us. The separation happened thousands of years ago, with some races, others mere hundreds of years ago.

The werewolves were going to be helped because, as my grandfather said softly, they were still seen as 'our' children. Our responsibility. Other races that appeared, sorcerers, witches, half-demons, other races that appeared, all these were not our problem. We hid from them and watched them. This was why Alan was in Miami. Watching the sorcerers on behalf of those of us in America. And when the cougar people had been destroyed, it was decided that we'd also go back into hiding.

"The reason you see the dead isn't because you're a Necromancer or able to raise them like one. There isn't much you can do about the dead. Except ignore them." Alan said quietly, shooting a look back over his shoulder towards Daniella. I wasn't sure when she'd 'appeared'. She sat there though quietly listening and flipped him off and refused to budge as his owl kept trying to push her. "It's because our animals are dead. They don't die and give us a skin. They give us their body and then try and partner with us as spirit bodies."

"Partners in crime?" Daniella called, shoving the owl sideways as it nudged her, swearing as the beak met he finger. "Tell your bird to back off. I'm dead, I shouldn't have to put up with this shit."

"Dead humans are supposed to go somewhere else." Alan snapped. "Fuck off. This is private."

"Private my ass. I'm watching out for her for Reece." She snapped right back, shoved the owl aside.

"Alan, relax." Yvvone said softly. She glanced over to Daniella. "Werewolves are under our protection. We failed this one. She can listen."

"Partners. She remains with you until you die." Alan continued, voice rising, attention returning to me. "Selene is supposed to be a secret name. We're removing all trace of it from the world now. From now on, you're Beth."

Not her name. The wolf nudged him. Not Selene.

He didn't know what she wanted, I realised, as he stared at the big white wolf trying to nudge him. He didn't hear her. "Selene isn't my name."

"What is it then?"

"Thought I wasn't supposed to share it?" I couldn't help it. I was angry with him and he'd been snarky.

Alan sighed and rubbed his head. "To us, you are. We're the family that remains here. Your blood. Here to protect you. It's apart of this. Apart of taking the skin. What's your name?"

Smells of red apples. The wolf informed me. My name was smell of red apples. I blinked at her, ignoring Alan for the moment. That was my name? Out of all the things? She nodded, amused, and informed me that I smelt like red apples. This was what my mate thought. The name was my name now.

That wasn't a name though.

She snorted softly through her nostrils at my disbelief. Sora. Sora- smells of red apples.

"Um. This is going to sound a bit odd-"

"We're being named by animals. Of course it will." Alan's eyes raised up to the dark owl swooping across his head. His owl. "What is it?"

"Sora. Smells of red apples."

Even he laughed at that, Alan who rarely laughed and who hated most comedians, shaking his head. His eyes went back to Daniella. "You need to keep that secret. And you have to leave for our names."

"I will." She looked like the statement almost insulted her, like this was an obvious thing she had to do. Daniella was gone pretty fast.

"My name was Pink beak with soft edge- Pinky." Alan said, soft, his eyes going to the dark owl who ruffled his feathers somewhat. "Thanks."

"Two legged young one with sweet lumps. Sweets." Yvvone looked less upset than Alan did. "I used to feed her sugar lumps on the way to school."

"Watchful one. My human name is Greg." My grandfather smiled somewhat as his eyes met mine."These names are kept in our family. Speaking them can give them power over you. Right. Time to eat something and relax. Yvvone, have you got any marshmellows?"

We drank mulled wine and stuck things into her fire, marshmellows, bread, whatever we thought might toast. Relaxed. I stopped worrying about the problems that the werewolves had, head filled with family I hadn't known was here, with food, with laughter, with the warmth of a real fire. Both inside and out. It was alcoholic though. I sipped mine,they drank theirs, re-filling from a pot she'd left near the fire to keep it warm, celebrating my 'coming of age'. We curled up around the fire on cushions, the warmth of the tent easing me into a sleep, the wolf curling up beside me even if she had no need of it.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

It started to get dark and still no word. Jeremy checked his phone. Elena did. I couldn't put mine down. The motel they'd been found at was a four hour drive away so they'd already technically been late at lunch time, except that none of us would have been surprised if they'd stopped to get something to eat, and no one had worried then. The hours had gone by though and more and more, we looked at the clock, checked our phones,and made calls. Nothing.

It was while I was pouring out soup for the kids that Clayton woke and tried to stumble down, enraged, disorientated and completely and utterly normal when it came to memory, words, images, anything... he was _furious_ with Reece. He was still groggy, still drugged up to his head, but apparently not too much to shove Vi aside and charge for the basement. It took Elena a while to convince him a day had past, he needed to sit down, and Reece was being brought back.

Of course, this was the point Reece came barging into the front door, soaking wet, demanding to know what had happened.

It took a while to get Clayton off Reece, maybe because none of us tried too hard, but when Vi reminded us that he'd had surgery on his brain Elena and Jeremy detatched him from the bleeding Australian and took him back upstairs.

"Where's Nick and Antonio? And Selene?" I helped him up, only to hit him hard, ignoring the pain it caused. Good. Idiot had to stop doing idiotic things.

"We crashed." Reece cringed as he backed off. "They're okay. Just got stuck in a muddy field. Selene... well, I don't know where the fuck to start. I can't tell you all of it. They made me promise to stay quiet. Apparently they're coming soon to talk to Elena."

"They?"

"Her brother. Got a towel?"

I got him a towel and tried to get Nick on his phone again. No luck. If they were bogged... "Nick's not answering his phone."

"He might have left it in the car. They got a lift to town." Reece's breathing slowed as he threw a wet shirt to one side, rubbing his hair with the towel. "What happened to the gate?"

"Mutt. Had a gun." I flopped onto the couch as the triplets went for Reece the second he collasped onto the couch, beside me, none of hem apparently caring how wet he was,

"Shit, anyone get hurt?" Reece swore softly. When I lifted my skirt to show him, he frowned, his eyes narrowing when he caught sight of the bandage on my thigh. "Ah. Was it bad?"

"Not really. He was aiming for Elena." I replied, shrugged and pulled Dominic and Lily into my lap as Susie tried to 'help Uncle Reece with bath time'. He was soaking wet and had a towel. "You three get your bath soon. What happened?"

"The crash?" He cringed when Susie's hand met a bruise. "I'll tell you in a second." Reece lifted her up, gently lowering her down. "When these three are asleep."

It wasn't long before Nick called from a payphone to reassure me he was fine. The town's only payphone had apparently been damaged and, as they were strangers, they were more or less asked to stay outside. In the rain. The disease had made that town equally as paranoid as ours. They were on their way back now, the car was being towed and they'd had to hire a car, he'd only stopped to call.

We got the kids to bed, little and big, while I told Elena and Jeremy what Reece had told me, and finally managed to sit around near the fire as Reece tried to explain what had happened.

"Well, you know we had a little romantic break..." He tried to joke. The scowl on Clayton's face showed it wasn't that funny. "Sort of. Sorry. Too soon. We saw Daniella."

Our anger with Reece faded then. Or at least, mine did, when his hand came for mine and hung onto it. His face was still light, no trace of distress, but I felt it in the way he grasped my hand harder than usual.

"Daniella?"

"Nick saw her too." Reece defended himself softly. "I chased her. Nick chased her with me, when he caught up, and she just kept running faster. Like we couldn't run as fast as her, no matter what we did, and she isn't a fast runner. Not like that. Then a car came around the corner."

"Daniella died though." Jeremy said quietly.

"Yeah. She did."

Then it wasn't Daniella. At least not the one we'd known. We all seemed to get what Reece had been saying at the same time. It wasn't Daniella.

"Did she smell the same?"

"Almost." He replied quietly. Clutched my hand harder. "Not quite. Like ...like when food's about to go off."

"Then what?" Elena asked. She'd lost the anger at Reece now. Her face was pale, drawn, leg pressing against Clayton's leg.

"Antonio turned up in his car with Selene and we chased her. Selene fell asleep, had a bad dream, woke up and told us to slow down. We nearly hit this giant white wolf suddenly and ended up bogged in a field after some spectacular spinning. Then she started to cry and talk about owls, then she was running at this wild wolf, and it was about to attack us, and... I don't know. She fainted. Then she woke up again and it died. Her brother showed up and made Antonio and Nick leave. They let me stay. I can't explain what happened after that. There was an old man with them who said he'd be here tomorrow to have a meeting with the Alpha. I have to stay quiet till then."

"How did you get here if they were sent away?" Clayton asked.

"They dropped me off at the gate. I saw it had been knocked over, ran here, got beaten up. End of story." Reece's eyes went downstairs. "Am I sleeping in the cage?"

"No. Anne's going to be in charge of you from now on. If you mess up, we punish both of you. I am going to punish you for the laws, when I'm sure the Pack is secure once more, but for now you're to follow her orders." Elena said softly. She didn't smile, didn't laugh, she fixed him with such a look that he cringed again. "You understand, Reece?"

"Yeah." He glanced at me, sideways, grimacing. In other words... if he screwed up, it'd hurt me. And from the way he looked at me, I knew it'd work, knew that Reece had forgiven me. Apparently he was too shocked to be angry at me now. "I get it."

"Good." She sighed and stood up. "I need to go to bed. Reece, Anne, can you two stay up and wait for Antonio and Nick? Clayton, come on. You weren't supposed to leave the bed."

"Coming." He stood up, uneasy, shooting Reece another disgusted look as his legs threatened to give out on him. Then he followed Elena.

After a while everyone else got up, one by one, heading to bed. We sat there staring out the window at the rain, watching, Reece's heart still racing. He'd just had an encounter with whoever stole Daniella's body. I hugged him close, felt him shudder and breathe out slowly, and we waited for Nick and Antonio to come home.


	6. Instinct

She guided me through the forest, this wolf that I knew as well as myself, this silver ghost leading through a pitch black night, through rain that didn't touch her, through a fence she called a strange shrub. I followed behind her, a little cold in the rain, trembling just a little, but the half cup of that wine had warmed my throat up enough to make it bearable.

This was it. She and I knew it. Now I knew why I'd dreamed of Reece, because she had decided on him for us, now that I knew that she and I were now sharing the same life, I knew that the next step was more or less planned out already whether he knew it or not. Instinct said it was natural. Normal. It sealed the deal, so to speak. The urge to 'mate'. In other words, I wanted to kiss the man silly and let him have his way. What could be wrong with that?

She led me to Stonehaven and I watched it sit still and quiet, standing outside in the rain, the dampness soaking me to the bone all over again. The white dress clung to my shoulders and arms, weighing down, over my chest and against my stomach, going more or less see-through.

Reece was sitting in the living room, only a lamp on, staring out the window behind the house. I circled around it till I was more or less in his line of vision and waited for him to notice, legs and arms shaking, knowing that when his shoulders stiffened, he'd seen me there. Waiting.

He spoke to someone, argued for a little while, and then I saw that brilliant grin spread across his face as he won. He vanished and was outside in a few seconds, towel in his hands, pulling me into the newer half of Stonehaven.

"What ar-"

I grabbed his head and pulled him down, kissing him hard, the heat of our mouths meeting and taking away the freezing rain.

"You've been drinking." Reece pulled back, staring at me, his breath hitching as he caught sight of my now extremely transparent dress.

"Only half a cup of mulled wine." I said softly, breath increasing, his eyes fixed on my body instead of my face now. He breathed in slowly, shutting his eyes, and when he opened them again the intense hunger had taken over almost. "Where are you sleeping?"

The question made him breathe in again, deep, hands coming to grasp my bare arms as he stepped closer. Reece's body pressed against mine, lifting me up, my arms going around his neck as he kissed me hard against the wall. Hands grabbed my legs and got them around his legs. I wondered if we'd even make it.

"Bed, Reece." I reminded him, shutting my eyes when I felt something hard press into me through his pants, a small shudder of fear going down my spine.

"Bed." He agreed, wrapping his arms around me, lifting me up into his arms like I weighed nothing. "Warm bed."

We made our way up the now quiet dark house, slowly, into a room that I had to assume was empty. This was the room I used to sleep in, I recognised it, looked like no one had touched it since. When he lowered me to my feet, I reached for the dress, trying to peel the sodden fabric off my skin. I got it down past my breasts when he reacted, his breathing getting faster, hands rising up.

"You don't have to do this." Reece said quietly from in front of me. I hesitated, as he stared at me, his face betraying that he wanted me to do anything but stop, his eyes fixed on my bare shoulders.

"You don't want me to do this? I'll come back in a week." I tried to push it up, face burning, the effort to just come here just to be rejected...

"Hang on. What is it? Why now?" Hands grabbed me, pulling me into his lap on the bed, Reece's head ducking down to kiss my bare shoulders. Reece's eyes went over my shoulder to my breasts, soaking wet and cold enough to get the nipples a little more stiff than usual. Something else had gotten a bit more stiff under his. He shut his eyes, arms tightening around my waist, his arms shaking as much as mine now. "Don't think I don't want to rip that dress off and ... but what happened to slow?"

"The wolf. She chose you when she saw you. In Alaska, I think." It was where she'd lived and they thought she'd come all the way from there. I tried to turn around, Reece's arms tightening, feeling his body react as my bottom ground against his lap.

"Fuck..." Reece swore softly, groaning, hands stroking my skin through the fabric. "Stop it. I'm trying to think. Alaska? I didn't tell you about being there."

"She saw you. Not me. She mated to you. She chose you for me." I felt impatience suddenly, having just gotten soaking wet to walk through rain to get here, he was trying to think? I wriggled in his lap, provoking his body, feeling a thrill of power when he groaned again, his body shaking. "Stop thinking. Hurry up before I loose my nerve."

He was standing us both up suddenly, I was dropped onto the bed, Reece bending over me as he stared down at me. He checked only once more before his hands grasped the dress and ripped it off, literally, tearing fabric like he couldn't wait. A mouth came to crush mine, his body covering me, hands pulling my legs up on either side of his hips as he ground hard against my body still dressed. Fear came back, the fear of the violence in this, but it was cut off again when he slid off me to undress.

"Don't be too rough." I reminded him, Reece's eyes blinking, and he nodded. I hadn't slept with someone before and with seeing how rough these ones could be... I watched him undress, peeling his shirt off so fast he tore it as well, trying to kick the pants off. Stood up, staring down at me, his chest rising and falling fast, sweat glinting in the darkness. But I still could see him. Every part of him.

"I won't be rough." He reassured me, sliding up to kiss me as he tugged at the last thing he'd left behind, the panties. I felt them yanked off with that same tearing yank, though he tried to not pull hard on my hips, hands sliding up my legs and pulling them up with the same motion. Funny how confidant he was, compared to me, how much he knew how to do this.

I shut my eyes, head against his shoulder as it prodded me, his hips lowering, feeling him push it hard against me, his arms trembling around me like he was holding himself back. It hurt just for a second, just a moment, and then he was pressed up against me, his legs stretching mine wide around his, his eyes meeting mine in the dark.

Our bodies moved, slowly, until he couldn't take it anymore, his hips grinding up against mine, our mouths opening and possessing each other as much as we could, Reece pulling my legs up so that he ground against me just right. The entire thing seemed to blur then, heat building up, forgetting that I was soaking wet, not cold anymore, just being 'mated', our bodies wrapped and pulled into each other, the sounds of skin, and soft groans, and other things filling the air, Reece's movements fast now, a little rough, and I just didn't care.

I cried out against his shoulder suddenly, the heat and pleasure exploding through my hips, right up and down my legs, toes curling as he moved faster against me, pressing his hips hard, leaning up to watch my face. I opened my eyes just in time to see his own face, the expression there as his hips drove up one last time and his own release came inside me.

The wolf whined beside the bed and sat down. He'd mated wrong.

I burst out in soft giggles, provoked by nerves, muffled against Reece's shoulder, a completely inappropriate thing for this probably. She whined, pawing at Reece without being able to make contact, confused. He was doing it wrong. Was our mate wrong in the mind?

"What?" He stared at me.

"The wol-"

Smell of snow coming in a dark clear night. The wolf reminded me that she too had a 'name'. Or rather, a smell.

"Um. Snowy says that you mated wrong. She thinks there's something wrong with you." I smiled as he scowled and gazed around the room.

"That so? We can do it the other way later." He rolled off me, his body pulling out, and I shifted back up the bed into his arms as he inhaled slowly. "I make you bleed?"

"Yeah." I shut my eyes, feeling his hand trace across my stomach and between my legs, cheeks reddening as he traced that area he'd just been in. It was swollen and a bit sore now that the pleasure was fading. The kind of soreness I thought I might actually like. "That happens with a virgin."

Reece swore softly, shifting up, staring down at me. "You didn't tell me that."

"I told you to be gentle. I came to you, remember?" The frown on his face made me feel afraid suddenly. Like this wasn't a real thing for him. Just a one night stand. "Did you just want one night?"

"Of course not. I would have been gentle. Used protection. Lube. I don't know." He frowned a little more, fingers gently stroking the tender skin between my legs. "I got taught to be ... to loose my mind. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah. You saw me-" I shifted over onto my side and tried to feel it, feel where he'd released in me. After all the safe sex talk we'd had in high school I'd forgotten it. Forgotten to use a condom. There were pills for this. It was a relief to see him so concerned though. That he didn't take pleasure in it. "It hurt a little. Then it stopped. Reece, relax, I came to you."

Reece relaxed, kissing me, brushing my wet hair out of my face. "As long as you enjoyed it." He flopped his head back, breathing slower, looking a bit stunned by this. "I can't believe you ..."

I smiled and shut my eyes too. It wasn't long before I was asleep, only stirring when I felt him tug a blanket over us, the strange smells and feeling of bare skin near mine easing me into a sleep.

Only to be woken again, under the blanket, Reece grinning at me as he rolled me onto my stomach. "You want me to mate properly now?"

Afterwoods, we were both giggling like kids, breathing hard, our skin sweaty as I informed him that she agreed this was the right way to mate. Reece seemed more amused by her approval than put off, kissing my shoulder, the two of us again having gotten to that release more or less at the same time somehow.

I rolled onto my back, Reece shifting so he was half over me, his hand stroking the hair off my sweaty skin. "It isn't like ...with him."

"Thought you were a virgin?" He asked, ducking down to kiss my chest, making me squirm when teeth found a sensitive nub there.

"I was. I mean, I did other things because he liked it. You think about me too." I watched his face darken, then soften again when I smiled, reaching down to stroke his shoulder.

"Of course I do." Reece agreed, resting his head against my chest, watching me. "Did he force you?"

"He suggested it and I ...he was so famous. I wasn't ready for sex so I thought it was the right thing to do with a boyfriend." I scowled softly. It hadn't been that enjoyable. He stank and he'd pulled my hair to make me do it 'right'. "The more I did it, the more he was rough, and then one night he'd taken me out. Fine dining, fancy dress, jewellery, and he brought me home to the dorm. Escorted me up at two in the morning to make sure I got safely into my room. And he was drunk. So he tried to get me to sleep with him, and I said no, so he broke my jaw. By accident he claimed." Reece had frozen, his eyes locked in mine, but I couldn't stop talking, I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to know how much trust I'd just put in him, how much trust I had in him. "My room mate didn't think he did it on accident. You can't say no if you can't talk. My room mate got home before he could get too far and she tazered him and called the cops."

"Remind me to buy her diamonds." He shifted up, the smile gone now, stroking my face. "You got him fired?"

"Charged him and he got fired. I was still seventeen and I had a broken jaw so he couldn't claim I wanted it, and he was twenty years older, so they charged him big time. I don't know what happened to him after. I don't care." I felt Reece's lips meet mine, kissing me gently, and leaned up to kiss him back. "I just wanted you to know. I ...trust you. To not hurt me."

"Fucking oath, I won't hurt you." He swore softly against my lips, shifting closer, sitting up. "If I knew who the bastard was..."

"We took care of him." I reminded him. Breathed out slowly shutting my eyes, feeling strangely content with the ache there between my legs. Done how I wanted it. By who I wanted it to be. "I got to decide when to do this. He can rot."

"You did." He agreed softly. I felt him shift down to lie beside me, body stiff. "I lost mine with a shelia in Australia. In high school. With kangaroos grazing around us."

"Seriously?" I opened one eye and he grinned.

"It was at a zoo. We'd been dating for a while and she'd already had sex before. We thought it'd be fun to try and do it while the teacher and class walked on. I was sixteen and it was a bit of a disaster. I did okay with the sex part but we'd only just finished when our teacher realised we weren't following and came back to find me pulling up my pants." He grinned as I laughed, that naughty schoolboy grin, nuzzling against my neck. "We tried a few more times but I wasn't as good as I thought. Then after her it was Daniella. I did better with her. She was afraid of sex so we took our time and I got to know her. It made it easier for her."

"So she was your second?" I asked softly. He nodded and rested his head on the pillow beside me.

"Yeah. We dated throughout University. Even lived together for a while, just the two of us, when she trusted me enough. Then after her was Anne and Nick."

My head shot up and he laughed, pulled me back down, tugging me against him. "He wanted to teach me, she was my best friend, and I didn't have any girlfriends. It was fun. Now I have you."

"Now you have me." I agreed, relaxing back, shutting my eyes. This time when I fell asleep, Reece fell asleep with me, the two of us curled up against each other.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

I wasn't an idiot. The second Reece started to argue that Selene might need time _alone_ with him, and I saw the look on her face and how transparent her dress had gone, I knew that I had to back off and leave them to it.

Which, from the sounds of it, meant that I had to let them roll around in the hay for a while. So to speak. Nick was right about 'something going on'. Something was going on, flying off, and stinking up her bedroom with the smell of sex.

When he didn't come down for a few hours I sighed. I didn't want to disturb that. I was glad he'd finally found a girlfriend that wanted him. The sound of a strange car and the gate being dragged off the driveway meant that Antonio and Nick were finally home.

I ran outside as they pulled up, Nick jumping out and grabbing me in a spinning hug, laughing as he saw I was wearing a skirt.

"See you took my fashion advice." He commented lightly, kissing me hard, and lowering me down.

"Is everything okay here?" Antonio asked as he locked up the car and gazed at the quiet house.

I nodded. "Karl dealt with the mutt. Apparently the elders are coming tomorrow and... Selene snuck Reece into her bed a few hours ago."

That made Nick laugh, pulling me against him, gazing up at the dark bedroom she'd slept in. "That so?"

"Sh. I'm still trying to decide if I should drag them apart or not. Elena did tell me to make him stay with me at all times." I opened my arms for Antonio when he came over for a hug, hugging him hard. "Glad it wasn't a bad accident."

"Me too." Antonio agreed. "I suppose you might want to get Reece out if he's supposed to be near you. Want me to scare him out?"

"If you can do it without scaring her, sure. If not, I'll have to get him out." I didn't want to. It was like... I didn't know, like stealing candy from a baby, easy _and_ mean all at once.

"He's got good enough hearing to hear my threat without her noticing." Antonio clasped his hand on my shoulder a moment. "I'll take care of it."

Reece didn't take it well. He was already downstairs in the kitchen, when we came in, arguing softly with Antonio.

"You can't send her back. She came here to stay with me." He hissed softly. His eyes fixed on me. "Anne, come on."

"You were supposed to be punished right now. Don't look at Anne. Remember, we punish you, we have to punish her too." Elena's voice came from the kitchen, tired, and I realied it wasn't just Antonio that was there with him. "I'm going to tell her why and ask her to leave. You're not getting a say in it."

"Elena, come on! We just-" He swore softly, looking frustrated, and looked to me for help.

I didn't know what to do again. Reece wanted me to go against Elena again.

"Reece, you broke two laws. Two of them. We gave you time here before the punishment but if you go against me this time, I can't delay it." Elena's warning was low, dangerous, as she shifted up straighter. "She's safer there. My conditions are that you stay near Anne and accept that you do what I say for now, until I decide you can pull yourself together, or you accept the greater punishment now."

"We need new rules about mates, Elena." I said quietly. She turned her attention to me then. I swallowed, seeing Reece's gratitude there, adding softly, "One day our kids are going to marry someone. Maybe a human. And at some point that partner's going to notice or feel suspicious about how they need to go away for a night every week. It might take ten years but they'll notice. And they'll come back and speak to you as Alpha, begging for permission to tell them."

"Which I can't give." Elena snapped. "We can't tell humans. I don't deny that she's clearly not a human now, but when Reece told her, he believed she was. She has to leave till the morning."

"Which is exactly my point. It might cost them that relationship." I reminded them all softly. "Which would cause them to panic. And then they might do something impulsive and stupid, like Clay has, Antonio, Reece. What if it causes him to loose this relationship with her?"

No one spoke for a long time at that.

"The law to allow mates and partners doesn't cover this. If a partner discovers our truth, like Selene has, we still have to kill them under Pack Law. The law doesn't disguised partner from stranger. It isn't just Selene." Antonio said it softly. "Lillian would have been killed. Should have been, under the law, simply for what she saw. Can you erase memories, Anne?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "I'd never tried it."

"I hear you both." Elena's eyes went to us. She sighed, rubbed her head. "We can't allow partners without thinking about this. But this doesn't change that she has to leave tonight. I'm sorry that you decided to try it tonight..."

"Elena. The instinct to mate, when you meet the right partner, can override good sense. It doesn't go either. It doesn't matter if they stay away for a year, ten, fifty." Antonio said softly. His eyes met Nick's eyes. "It lasts. Reece is young but... so was I. We need to treat him seriously right now. His instinct won't allow us to treat it like a joke- it will just panic again. Assume we're threatning his mate. Harming her mind, her brain, may seem like harming her body to his instincts."

"She's not under threat. She's allowed to return during the day. Reece, yo-" She was cut off as he blinked, turned, and ran for the door. "Reece, _come back_. Come and... That's an order." Elena swore as he ignored her.

I saw it then. Selene must have heard us arguing and she was going, already in the forest, already leaving with a sheet around her. Reece ignored Elena as he chased after her.

"Elena, you can't ask her to leave after they've had sex." I said it quietly, feeling Nick's hand tighten on mine. "You know how that'll make her feel."

"You two want them in your room? She goes home or she sleeps in your room. That's your choice. He's already broken one of my orders. Reece's not a child. He'll have to deal with it when I get up tomorrow." She growled softly, frustrated, and vanished upstairs before we could talk.

It wasn't us that decided though. Alan showed up in a car, all anger and rage, and Nick had to physically keep him back from Reece when he saw his little sister upset and walking around in a sheet in the rain. It was clear what had gone on. In the end she had to go anyway, promising Reece she'd be back in the morning. Reece watched her go and pushed past us without another word, anger boiling off him, heading for our room and curling up on the floor. It was like trying to tell two teenagers in love that they couldn't date. He wasn't thinking.

I crawled into bed beside Nick, Reece ignoring the two of us, frustrated and hurt myself. I didn't know what the fuck to do.

Elena did. The next morning she woke the three of us up. Clayton dropped a bag on him as she stood there. She looked sad, tired, like she hadn't slept, but determined.

"What?" Reece stared at the bag, sleepy, confused. He hadn't even bothered with a blanket. "Elena?"

"I told you. One last order broken and I had to speed up your punishment and punish Anne." She sighed, shut her eyes a moment, and I found myself handed a bag as well. "The two of you have to leave."

"What!" Nick slid out of bed, tugging the bag out of my hands, dropping it. "Clay, Elena!"

"That was the agreement. She's banished for three months. Reece, three years. Reece has a flight to Australia and there's a plane waiting for you Anne." She took the bag off the ground. Ignored Matt as he rushed in, half dressed, Clayton grabbing him before he could grab onto me and dragged him away as Matt kicked and yelled. "Reece agreed and he still ..."

"All I did was go after her. I had to at least speak to her."

"I told you to come back. I was going to give you something for her to put on." Elena snapped. "I ordered you. You keep overreacting. I wasn't going to let her walk back under a sheet. Anne, you're not able to leave America due to the will and course but you'll have to stay out of this state. Nick can't visit you."

Reece stared at her, then at me, the anger at me gone now. I stared at her white faced, clutching the bag, hurt and anger at all of them. Hadn't we been over this?

"You can't just..."

"He's broken Pack Law." Elena said quietly. "Assaulting two members of Pack and telling a human. A year for each offence. Anne, three years is better than death."

Three years without pack was death, my instincts were screaming, my wolf... ten years without pack was torture. Not safe. "This isn't right. He panicked. You can't..."

I felt Reece grasp my hand then, quiet. "Yeah, they can. It's okay. I told you I had to go to Australia and take care of some mutts. I'm sorry that I got you into trouble."

"You're going with _me_. As _pack_." I refused to let go, even as he tried to detach my hand, refused to let him go. Not now. IT wasn't fair. He was suffering. Banishing him wasn't going to make it better. And he couldn't go and face them on his own. I felt afraid for him, afraid that he'd never make the three years, afraid that he wasn't ready. My own punishment barely registered. "You can't ..."

"Elena, please. Just let her stay. She's got kids." Reece said quietly. "Add her time onto mine. Add another three years."

"Reece, I told you what would happen." She breathed out slowly, avoiding Nick's eyes, and moved forward. "Go. Into the car, both of you. Nick, let her go."

"I-"

"Don't make me say you can't visit. Nick-"

"Elena, enough." Clayton spoke quietly.

Her head turned to him as he stepped forwad, grasping her hands, stroking them. "You ain't thinking right."

"I'm pregnant, Clayton, not brain dead." She snapped. Shock rocked through me at that, at Elena's moods, at the decaf all over the place, her strange reactions to smells... He refused to let go of her hands, ignoring us, Clayton's hands stroking her arms. "They broke-"

"He broke a law. And I'm gonna deal with it with Antonio. The bastard's going to regret it." He shot Reece such a malevolent look that Reece nearly dropped the bag. "You need to relax. We've got to think about the whole Pack. Taking two away is gonna weaken us worse."

"Clayton..."

"You know it's true. This is my job. I'm going to enforce this. You have to step back and let me. You want three years worth of punishment?" He continued to speak, soft, stroking her hand as if she was a angry child. "You see anyone better for that job around here?"

"I'm the Alpha. I have to prove myself." She snapped.

"And you're pregnant. And you're tired. And you're jumping up and down all over the place. Remember who stabbed someone already injured with a knife yesterday for eating the last of the ice-cream?" His lips twitched as he held up a bandaged hand. "Darling, this is my job. I have to decide. I'm going to make sure Reece sees exactly what he's done wrong and you have to back off and let me."

Another person was in the room, I realised, Jeremy. On her other side.

She didn't speak for a long time, her breathing fast, face red. Then she turned around and left without a word to either of them, looking furious, Clayton breathing out slowly as he watched her go.

Then he turned on Reece and Reece cringed. "You. Cage. You." His eyes snapped to me. "There's laundry. Do it on your own. I've got a fucking hole in my skull and I don't have the energy to deal with you two today. One pregnant mate is enough."

Clayton marched Reece away and I felt Nick tug me against him, his heart racing, breathing hard against my head.

"Did you know she's pregnant?" I asked quietly.

"I didn't." Nick squeezed me hard against him, tugging the bag out of my hands, throwing it aside. "Explains a lot. That scared me." He kissed me hard, hands running through my hair, holding him against him for a few seconds.

"Me too." I admitted. I hadn't thought about it, so scared for Reece, but … wow. What had she been like the first time she was pregnant? I leaned against him for a few more precious seconds before I remember Clayton's barked order. "Laundry."

"Yeah." Nick sighed softly. "You do that and I'll get ready for today. Triplet's first day at nursery school."

"I forgot." I admitted, he grinned a shaky grin, and we went our separate ways. My legs were weak as I tried to do the laundry, multiple loads of it, leaning against the wall as I breathed in and out. Reece had done the wrong thing. I knew that. I also knew that he'd done them for reasons that went beyond logic, it went into instinct, and I wasn't sure it was entirely fair to punish him. There'd been so many examples of 'separation' not working that it was clear it was more or less more likely to create a stupid reaction. Clayton bit Elena, Antonio knocked up his teenage girlfriend, now Reece was struggling.

Antonio came down to give me a hug, a tight comforting hug, and I leaned against him.

"We've got to officially accept them." I muttered against his chest.

"I think you're right. We're a stubborn species, we don't like too much change too fast, and there she is. A new species, making our younger pack member loose his head." He chuckled softly.

"Please tell me you didn't behave like that." I muttered.

"Well, I may have. But I had nine months to come back to my senses after. If I hadn't brought Nick back, he'd be a mutt. Alone. Raised without any secure support. He might have been very different." Antonio leaned back against the wall. "I just wish I could have brought her back with him. This time it's different."

"Yeah. What a mess." I rubbed my head, groaning softly. "The elders are coming today?"

"By lunch. Your new employee is already on duty. I met with him this morning for you. I was coming to tell you but-" He glanced upstairs. "Elena was packing a bag for you. I wanted to stay clear of it and let Clayton talk with her. I met him on your behalf."

"You knew he'd say that?"

"Clayton knows her better than anyone here. I knew he'd see she wasn't thinking." Antonio stood up and patted my shoulder. "First day of school. I hope you've got some tissues. As soon as they're on their way, I'll handle Reece."

I got back to the laundry, trying to relax, stunned. What a way to wake up.

We got them ready, packed a bag, and Nick had them dress in cute matching outfits. I watched him do it, his eyes constantly flicking to me, he was probably as stunned as I'd been. Once he'd gotten them dressed and Antonio had them downstairs eating breakfast

I went to go after them but was pulled back into the room a moment, into Nick's arms, and I turned around to wrap my arms around him.

"Shit, if Elena..."

"I better behave, huh." I tried to smile, tried to laugh it off, but I couldn't. I knew that Nick would do what he was told. Wouldn't he? Nick's brown eyes searched mine, his hands stroking my face, staring at me like he was afraid she'd change her mind and come back. Three months may not have been that long, not really, but it was long enough to drive us mad.

He pulled me against him, hugging me hard, his face burying into my neck as we breathed in and out, our scents mingling and fogging our minds up. We barely stopped touching each other, all the way through breakfast, through the walk to the gate, even as we met the security half-demon guy- Ben- before he headed off. Then on the way back, Nick briefly lost contact for a moment but we'd been both so shaken by the prospect of it...

We sat down in the living room, with me in his lap, running my hands through his hair. It'd been styled again. Always he somehow found the time to style his curls, to shave perfectly, to treat his nails perfectly, and I admired them with my own bitten and uneven nails. "You're so clean."

Nick laughed, kissed my shoulder, and ran his fingers down my hair. "You haven't brushed this for a week, have you?"

"I may have given it a few goes." I muttered and he grinned, leaning against him as his fingers teased tangles out, not at all bothered. I think he actually liked it, being able to 'groom' me, extending his love of self-grooming to his partner. He seemed to enjoy giving me thing to wear, that was for sure. "They're at nursery school."

"Yeah. School. Twins are okay." He added, when he saw my gaze go to where we'd put the twins before heading out, nipping my shoulder. "I checked them before we walked to the gate." Nick pulled the remote over and flipped it on to put the news on, still teasing my hair with his fingers, and I shut my eyes to enjoy it- the pleasure of my hair being pulled lightly, scalp teased, stroking his side with one hand.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" I finally said it, finally asked it, Nick glancing at me. "I mean... if they're spoiled..."

"They'll be fine." He nuzzled me.

We watched the news, wrapped up in each other, Nick's legs around me, and I felt Nick's heart rate speed slightly as Clayton came downstairs. His eyes were on the TV but his attention was soley on Clayon. Clayton didn't look at us though, he was heading out with Reece, Reece avoiding our eyes.

Again news on the disease. There was a breakdown, food shortages, fuel shortages, it looked like almost all planes were grounded. Less people working that more companies shut down and that meant less jobs.

I shifted closer to when they gave figures, estimates, on how many were dying. How many had died already. The strange thing was that they weren't sure how many had recovered yet, the information blurry, those people 'quarantined' for their own safety from re-exposure. Did it infect humans more than once? It was the numbers of kids and elderly that really shocked me though. No wonder why they could take our triplets at the last minute. As many little kids were dying as the elderly now.

"You okay?" Nick asked quietly. I shook my head and he squeezed me against his legs. "Not our ones. They already got it."

"What if it spreads to us again?" I asked quietly. This disease had gone from affecting a few pet dogs to infecting millions of people in Canada, America, South America, Mexico, India, Asia, and it was creeping along Europe. There were already several cases of it along the edges of Russia's borders and into Afghanistan. It was like a fire that no one could put out and I remembered that, even with a skin-walker running around, we still had only taken the first steps to ending what Demetruis had started. It was as much our duty to stop it. "What kind of sick asshole spreads this kind of sickness?"

"The mad kind." He inhaled slowly. They were showing where it'd spread, including total fatalities. I stared at the total number without being able to take it in. It was massive. Over a billion people dead. A billion humans. I could barely process the number. And this was only now. The number of sick was massive. China had the most dead, so far, over three hundred million. India wasn't far behind that with two hundred and fifty million, roughly. Then America. For all their 'quarantine' and 'disease checks', it was getting bad here too. A third of the country was sick, over three hundred million, and a hundred million were already dead.

The numbers still made no sense in my head. I couldn't picture it. Couldn't picture how many people that would have to be.

"Sorry." Elena's voice came from nearby, making us both flinch, we'd been so daught up in the numbers that we hadn't seen her come down. She stared at us, frowning slightly, and flopped down. "I've not taken to this one as well. I still have to make sure Reece is punished but … I wasn't thinking clearly this morning."

"You're pregnant?"

She nodded and didn't pull away when I leaned forward to tug her top up. Elena traced the tiny bump, just barely noticeable, breathing out slowly.

"I suddenly know why you wanted to leave for Australia." She said it so quietly that the TV almost overpowered her. "We still haven't decided if we're going to ...let it continue."

"It's his?" And by his, I didn't mean Clayton. The attack on us months back. Nick shifted forward too, his chest against my back, the TV forgotten.

"It may be. It may be Clayon's child." She added, her fingers touching the firm bump, breathing out slowly. "We intended on having another sometime. When he attacked us, Clayton reacted in the way a wolf would. Reclaimed ..." Elena trailed off, her cheeks warming in tone just a slight bit, and Nick chuffed softly behind me. "So it may be either."

"Whatever you decide, I'll help." I reached out to take her hand and squeezed it. One of our babies, from the sounds of it Mick-Reece, was starting to fuss. Nick slid up fast, kissed my neck, and went to take care of it.

"I hope there's not too many in there." She smiled weakly and leaned back, shutting her eyes. "I should have told you earlier. It was just a hard thing to face and you were miscarrying... I just couldn't say it."

"You could have. I wasn't … I was told that I had to have that child, so it'd be back. It was when I died in the car accident." Come to think of it, it felt like a lot of bad shit had gone on. I breathed out slowly, squeezing her hand, determined to make sure that at least she would cope with this one. "I don't recommend running to Australia."

"If I tried, Clayton would hunt me down and drag me back, there isn't any way to loose that man." She didn't seem to mind that. Elena smiled a little more.

"How long?"

"Around fourteen weeks now." She pulled the baggy top down. "Clayton and Jeremy are taking it better than I am."

I suddenly got why we'd been watching the men instead of doing it. "Taht's why they packed the truck? Clayton..."

"That, and it was a nice sight." She grinned a little at that. Elena's smile faded somewhat though. "I'll tell my kids soon. I thought I was a little more level headed this time. Last pregnancy, I fought zombies, and this one I can't even get out of bed without wanting to banish you all and cry under the staircase. Pathetic."

"You-"

"I might have." She admitted. "Ate the ice cream. Let it out."

"Hey, I ran away to Australia and sat in a house for months crying. There's no judgement here." I muttered and it relaxed her. When I pulled her against me, cuddling into her, Elena relaxed. We stared at the TV. Not much news besides the news about the pandemic.

"I'm not going to ask Jeremy to resume as Alpha. This is just going to help." She said against my shoulder.

It probably would, I had to admit, because backing down would seem like weakness. I sighed though. Bad timing all around.

"I'll cook something comforting. Macaroni cheese for lunch. No kids around to steal it. I'll put ham in it and we'll consume it all." I offered and she nodded.

"Sounds good. Make a lot of it though. The Elders are going to be here and I want to be sure we have enough for all." Elena stood up and stretched. Now that I looked, now that she was stretching so the top was above her stomach, it was kind of obvious. She glanced down. "Won't be able to hide it much longer."

"I'm amazed you've done it this long. I guess I bettter look into getting another house for us. Too many little ones."

Elena laughed and nodded as Nick came in, holding onto Rose-Ella, jiggling her around. "Too many. She's going to be crawling soon. I saw her attempting it."

"She wants to run." Nick gazed down at her, her thumb in her mouth, adoring. "Reece is just lying there happy to play. Do you want a house near here?"

"Wait to see what they say today, before you start worrying." Elena reached out to stroke Reece's dark hair. "We've got a few months."

* * *

><p><strong>Selene<strong>

I woke, aching, sore, and to the face of Yvvone. Laughing at Alan, who was still angry at me, laughing in his face. They were arguing in the doorway, she was planted in it, refusing to let him in. The night before she'd been the one to usher me into her yurt, impressed when she saw me naked, and had locked Alan out before he could follow.

"She had sex!" He was yelling, so angry, as she smiled. "Don't look so delighted about it! I've got to punish..."

"For crying out loud, kid, how did you think you were made? Of course she did. She's nineteen, already been to college, she's not a child. There's no punishments." She glanced back at me, rolled her eyes as I blinked, as if this was clearly obvious to her. "Good on you. I heard werewolves are fun."

"But the rules-" Alan tried to pry his way in and she stuck there, stubborn.

"No one told her the rules, Alan, go outside and cool down." She pushed him out the door of the yurt and shut it in his face, locked it, pulled the curtain across the window in the door and turned on me with a grin. "So, tell me about this boyfriend."

"He's Australian and we've only ...started." I smiled weakly. Last night had been strange though. We'd fallen asleep, then Reece woke me up by storming out, then they were arguing about having to send me home. Reece had been angry so I knew it wasn't his idea, which comforted me in one way, but he was getting into trouble again. I hoped he wasn't too badly in trouble. "I was going to spend the night but-"

"Sorry, sweetie, you can't. I suppose because he's a boyfriend, he's included, but this is the start of your changes. Only family can see you." She sat down beside me, patting my leg. "For two months. Forty days, to be exact, but then we've got some other things. You'll see."

"Only family? Two months?" I sat up and cringed. Ow. I was a little tender now.

It wasn't important, the wolf reminded me. She'd already had puppies and mated once in her life. That was important. Finding the mate. Hunting with it.

"Your grandfather's already packing the car. We have to go into the wild with you, go to where your wolf came from, integrate you and this wolf together properly, and ceremonial things have to happen." When she saw my frown she smiled apologetically. "It's important. How long have you two been seeing each other?"

"One night."

"Ah." Yvvone seemed to get it then. "That does make it difficult between you two. There's no rules against contact through writing, which I'd say includes email, but you have to go. The bonding won't work if you don't."

The wolf, I noticed, was pacing around restlessly, as if it knew this, as if it wasn't as distressed by this as I was. My eyes watched her, watched this silvery-white wolf, and Yvvone turned to gaze behind her to it.

"You see her?"

"Only a shadow. Over the next year, she'll become more apart of our family, and we'll all see her more clearly. That's why you can see our creatures. We all had to do this. Do you remember when your brother went to Europe for a few months?"

I didn't. I blinked at her. "No, when-"

"When he sent you to boarding school."

Oh. "He told me he was here." I remembered it, this boarding school I went to for a few years, and his promise that I could return if I wanted. I'd assumed it was because he was too stressed working and studying, and he wanted me to near women at that 'special' time of my life. Alan didn't know how to handle a girl with her first period. It had been fun- I had gotten it there and had friends to help me with it.

"He was, sort of, but he was undergoing this too." She stood up and started to move around the room, packing things up, rolling things up. "Get dressed, have a shower in the house, and help me out with this."

"I have no choice?"

"Not unless you want to give up that wolf of yours." Yvvone added, softer, "And you can ask that other wolf of yours to wait. You're young. You have time and if he isn't waiting, he isn't interested."

The idea hurt. She was so much of me as I was of her... I swallowed, nodded, and went inside with the clothes she'd given me. One year. I couldn't ask him to … but at least I'd had fun. Done it with someone I trusted. Now I just had to hope that he ...really meant the mate thing. That he wouldn't abandon me.

While I waited for the hot water to come in, I texted him, my fingers shaking as I did. It sounded a hell of a lot more cheery than I felt.

* * *

><p><strong>Anne<strong>

Jeremy helped Nick clean up the bigger living room in the new Stonehaven, while I cooked and juggled the twins. I called the nursery school at one point, making sure everything was okay, and the woman there sounded so sick of another parent that I felt bad immediately. She was probably getting a dozen of these 'just checking!' calls a day with the disease. At least when I mentioned that the triplets were mine, she seemed to relax somewhat, reassuring me that they were fine. Settling in. Apparently there had been a tantrum, with the three of them trying to work together, but it'd blown over.

Maybe we had spoiled them a bit too much. At least they learnt team work.

I cooked the macaroni cheese, a lot of it, but I made sure that I baked Elena her own dish of it. I'd promised her and I felt this urge to stuff her full of carbs and comfort food now that I knew what was going on. It wasn't easy being pregnant to begin with, but add 'possible forced pregnancy' and 'have to be a strong Alpha' and it wasn't surprising she'd lost her cool for a while.

She managed to eat it before the cars started to arrive outside, a grateful look shot my way before she headed into the other room, Jeremy and Clayton flanking her. I didn't see Selene out there. Reece came back, stenching of vomit, sweat and blood, and Antonio marched him up into the bathroom before he could ask. It looked like he'd been run till h was about to drop from exhaustion and smelt that way.

Nick and I ate lunch together, each nursing a baby, the quietness of the house a little strange to us. No toddlers racing around asking endless questions, demanding attention, getting jealous over the babies. No big kids- all three of them were at school too, and no adults except for us.

"Just imagine." I said, reaching across the table for Nick's hand. "This is what it's going to be like when we've got our own house again."

He grinned, breathed out, and shut his eyes. With the doors shut to the new Stonehaven half, with both twins distracted by their bottles, we could hear rain, birds, the gutters emptying water into puddles. After a while Reece and Antonio came in. They'd both showered, both changed, and flopped down with plates of the lunch.

"Selene with them?" Reece asked softly.

"No." I glanced back outside, dropping the bottle onto the table and lifting up tiny-Reece up to my shoulder. "She has your phone number, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. I didn't … can I get it?" His eyes met Antonio's eyes.

"You've got thirty seconds to grab it and return." Antonio's answer was so cold that it gave me chills. He was still in full on 'punish' mode. But then he smiled, relaxed, and took Rose from Nick to burp her, back to grandfather mode as if he'd just flipped a switch. "They're getting stronger every day."

Reece ran up stairs and ran back, fast, feet pounding on the ground as he did. He flopped into the seat, panting, exhausted. He stared at it, then at me, this expression in his face as he read the message.

"What's wrong?"

"She's gone. They left this morning for two months. She said it was to do with what happened … that she had to leave." He frowned, and I saw it, Reece starting to withdraw into himself again. Bit by bit, however stupid he'd been, I'd seen flashes of him before Daniella had died, as he'd tried to get Selene. Now he was withdrawing again.

"Two months?"

"Yeah. Reckon I can get Elena to banish me again?" He tried to smile. "She said she'll write when she gets there but she understands if ...if I won't wait." Reece looked a bit hurt at that, flipping the phone onto the table to me, his half eaten lunch gone. "Is that message female code for it was fun but it's done?"

"I don't think so." I said quietly. I read the message though.

_'Reece- my family have to take me away 4 2 months. To do with what u saw yesterday. I cant say no 2 them and am sorry did not know. I will write. Do u have email If u cant wait 2 months I understand. 3 Selene.'_

Nick glanced at it over my shoulder, sliding closer, and shook his head. "Don't think so. She's giving you a chance to opt out easily."

"So she's not breaking up with me?" He sighed, shut his eyes, stabbing a fork into a piece of macaroni. "What if I don't want to opt out?"

"So text her back and tell her you'll write back and two months isn't long. If she wants to end it, she'll have to make it more clear, but I don't think that's it." I stared at it and then pushed it back at him. "She did ask for email. That doesn't seem like she's trying to cut contact."

"Yeah. And her brother seems like he's a bit of a-" Nick yelped as I elbowed him. "Well, you know. Just answer. Like she said."

"You've got five minutes." Antonio added, soft, glancing at the phone. "That's it. So make it a good one."

Reece got to work on his phone and ignored his food, relaxing somewhat when he got an almost instant response. I saw him come back, come back out of himself, his face relaxing and shoulders lowering somewhat. It was cute. He was obviously smitten with the girl and I had to admit it made me happy.

"She says she was afraid I'd not want to wait. Can you believe it?" He shook his head, grinned, and started to eat again. "Do I get internet time in the cage, Antonio?"

"That's up to Clayton. If not, you might have to let Anne send messages for a few weeks on your behalf. Unofficially." He glanced back to his plate and went back to eating, looking amused, relaxing a little himself. "I have to go to the toilet. Anne, watch him." Antonio lifted Rose back into Nick's arms, stood and vanished upstairs.

Reece came around the table, sliding close to me, like he'd been dying all day to talk to em. "I was her first."

"What?" I stared at him, laughed at his face, and hugged him against my side as I stroked little Reece's back. "Was that her first time last night?"

"No wonder why you didn't want to send her off." Nick grinned at him. "Good job. Practice my tips?"

"More or less. I got a little carried away." He flushed, grinned, squeezing my leg as he sat there. "I guess this counts as a serious one."

"No more fun with us, no." Nick agreed, nodding, smiling as Rose beamed up at him. "But if you need tips, you know who to come to."

He nodded, relaxing against his chair, accepting little Reece when I offered him over so I could stretch my arms and finish my own lunch. Reece looked pretty pleased with himself, relaxing, but then his face darkened. "Think Daniella will... care?"

"That a girl walked into your bedroom and seduced you? Probably not." Not after two and a half years of chasing her. I shook my head and looked up as Antonio returned. "What's he getting punished with?"

"A surprise. Come on, Reece, into the basement. Phone to Anne." Antonio waited while Reece handed little Reece back and stood up, groaning softly, sliding his phone at me. "You can have it over night."

I watched him go and slid his phone into my pocket, lifting Reece into my arms and carrying him carefully through to where we'd set up their porta-cot. It was funny. With the triplets we hadn't worried about this, about walls around them, we'd let them roll around as they liked. But the triplets were jealous of these two and it'd been easier to just let them have a way to see them without viewing them. The last time we saw them they were rolling the twins up in blankets so they could become butterflies. I'd been horrified that they'd nearly smothered the babies and astonished that they'd made that connection. Nick had just laughed, Clayton with him, as they rescued and unwrapped babies while I told the three toddlers off. Neither of them thought it was as bad as I did.

We sat down and waited for news about the meeting inside, watching the two babies attempt to get up, both of them close to trying to crawl now. Rose was the more determined of the two, already lifting her uppar body up and rocking around, pushing herself around on her stomach. Reece watched her but he just lay there, yawned, and reached for the jingling toy dangling from one part of the porta-crib.

Lucas rang me as we waited, letting me know he'd officially started the interview process for the position of CEO. Legally it'd take some time- two weeks of internal advertisement within the company, interviews, and then another three weeks of external advertisement and the second round of interviews. It was apparently normal to offer it to employees first. I remembered hearing when I was younger and searching for a job that most jobs were given to people on the inside, and it'd seemed unfair, but now I kind of got it. If someone had already been working there and knew this company then they might know what to do with it.

"You don't have to worry about a thing. I've got a person on it." Lucas reassured me. "How are you handling this?"

"I'm not thinking about it. That course starts soon."

"A week from Monday, yeah. I can't blame you for not thinking about it. Still scares me to think about what I'm taking over from my father, and I've had warning and training." He laughed softly. "If you decide to stay in the background I wouldn't blame yo-"

He cut off, the line still there, and I heard voices. Lucas swore softly. "Shit. I forgot. I'm going to have to call you later. Florida's got power off times now, trying to preserve power supplies while this disease goes on, so I need this phone to last. Talk to you later."

"Bye." I blinked as he hung up. "They're having power off times down there?"

"I think so. We have to go collect our weekly rations today. I was waiting for El-" Nick cut off as Elena came out. "Elena. Want us to get yours too?"

"I was going to ask you when I heard you mention it. Jeremy's talking with them." She was tugging cards out. "It's a lot, I know, but if you take the twins..."

"Instant assistance. I know. If we're late can Antonio pick up the triplets?" I took the cards and stood up. "It might take a while."

"I'll ask him now. It should be all right. While you're there, get some papers from the store, I want to know what's going on." Elena nodded. She helped us move the twins into the car, pram in, everything we needed ready, and we headed off when Antonio agreed to pick them up for us. Reece could wait in the basement for a while.

I was a bit nervous going into town, the pile of cards in my pocket sitting there like a lead weight, aware of what had happened to Selene just before. The last person to do this after that had been Antonio and Nick, taking the triplets, and it had worked to their advantage. Two gorgeous men with three adorable curly haired babies? No one batted an eyelid at the amount of cards. If anything, they were snuck some extra long life milk for the babies.

This time it was the same deal. We were offered a place to park near the Town Hall, a place reserved for employees, and while I handed cards over and let the woman coo at the twins, Nick and the other men carried what we needed out to the car. No fuss. No argument. She even offered me a discount haircut at her sister's clinic. They hadn't had enough clients lately and I could get it any time. It was so different from what I'd heard happen to Selene, Vi, Pav, to anyone they didn't know, that it kind of angered me. They shouldn't treat us differently from any stranger.

No point worrying about it though. We got the boxes of food and nappies, got the papers for Elena, and got back in time to pick up the triplets ourselves when Antonio and us swapped cars in the driveway. He went in, we drove out, just in time to get them.

The triplets were over the moon to see us, and I had to admit, I was over the moon to see them too. They looked tired, dirty, and happy, handing us artwork, the teacher telling us that they'd done well and that they'd made friends, looking amused as Nick kissed them over and over. Six hours away from us and suddenly we didn't want to distract them.

We had about thirty seconds once home to get them out of the car before Elena called us all into the study, the twins and triplets under Vi and Pav's care, so that we could hear what they'd decided.


	7. Distractions

Vi and Pav had to watch the children as we went in, the two of them leaving the room and Nick and I sat down. The seats had been arranged in a circle, as if we were kids, but it sort of forced everyone to look at everyone. One part of me disliked this quite a lot- I hated the idea of all these 'non-wolves' staring me in the eye so directly, it almost felt like a challenge.

But in another way I liked it. It was impossible for people to hide motives when so face to face like this. Jamie was there as well.

Elena shifted in her seat at the head, Clayton standing against a wall and refusing to take part in the 'circle', his gaze fixed on the Elders from the skin-walkers.

"We've agreed that they may remain in Forestwatch with your permission." She said quietly, her eyes coming to mine, frowning somewhat. "All things would be moved out to a different home and they would rent it."

"What home?"

"You'll have to organise that."

I hesitated at that. The idea that they'd take my home for a short while, that I'd handled fine, but now they wanted to stay? Where would we go anyway? Nick shifted uncomfortably beside me.

"You know what we are?" He asked, his knee brushing against my thigh, and when we got a nod from one of the older women, Nick continued, "Then you know how we feel about terrortry?"

"It's probably easier to explain what we are." An older man spoke up. His eyes met Elena's eyes. "Would you let us explain it?"

"Go ahead." She nodded, head just moving a tiny bit.

I went quiet as they described who they were.

"I'm Selene's Grandfather, by the way, and thank you. For taking care of her. She's had to go for a little while." I found it hard to mirror the friendly smile and he continued without seeming put off, "Our kind are an ancient race. We were far back as the stone age, when we depended on fur, and some of the humans discovered that they were taking on the form of one skin they put on. This became a blessing and for many thousands of years, it was used to our advantage in hunting, travel, protection. We were treasured, even worshipped, and it seems that we were not limited to one area. Our kind appeared around the same time across the world without any evidence of where we came from. We just appeared.'

'Naturally there became points in the world where we were seen as enemies, as evil, as unnatural, and so we became secretive instead. Hid ourselves and tried to avoid detection. Some of our children started to be born different to us. Vampires, shape shifters, selkies, a fixed skin-walker race, shamans, necromancers-" His gaze went to the seat Jamie sat in, "- and of course, Werewolves. They became their own races as hundreds of years passed, without any clear reason for the mutations, just that for some reason some of us only bore the mutated children. Some, the Vampires, stopped aging and depended on blood for life. Some, as the shape shifters shown, required no skin and were mistrusted greatly for they were known for causing problems. There was a race of skin-walkers that no longer needed a skin but could only take one shape- a cougar- and they were limited to the Native American populations. Shamans were human except that they were more connected to nature on a spiritual level and mistrusted us in the same way we had no trust in shapeshifters. Necromancers were born with the ability to see the Ghosts and interact but were not able to take on the form of a dead shape. They became powerful in their own way over time and are also difficult to trust, because not all use their strength wisely. And then there were the werewolves- our offspring that could only be a wolf, and required no skin to do it. Each race separated from us but we watched them over. This is where your race comes in." His eyes fixed on us. "The werewolves. The youngest of the races to form and yet so old now, by this world's standards, and our responsibility. This skin-walker that takes human forms has targeted your Pack and your species. We were responsible for her, or his, downfall and we failed to destroy the abomination before it took one of your own. This is our failure. This is why we need to remain close. Within your Forestwatch."

"So you want to move us out?"

"Yes. We will care for this property. We will even buy it, should you allow that, should your Pack feel comfortable in the future. But this isn't a thing to worry about for the moment." He glanced at Elena.

"We'll discuss that later." Elena's blue eyes met mine. "Are you all right with them renting Forestwatch for a longer period of time?"

"We will pay rent and repair your building." Selene's grandfather added, softly. He held out photos of Forestwatch, of my home, and I stared at it. There was a new roof on it. There were gardens. Was that a shed out the back that hadn't been there before? All these additions! I stared at it and felt my anger build, even as my resolve to say no faded, realising that there was no way in hell I could say no. They'd already done all this work.

"We can move easily." Nick spoke up. I blinked as he slid an arm around me. "If Liz wants it. I'm happy with it."

"I... I guess you can stay." I felt like there wasn't much say in the matter, no matter what these people said, and felt Nick's leg brush against mine slightly. I had to focus. Wherever he was, I was home, as long as I was near the pack. Forestwatch had been so ideal though, right next to Stonehaven, this property close enough to make it easy to walk from one place to another. "Yeah. We can do it."

"That's all for now. I'll have a meeting with everyone tonight about what we've agreed. See if you can find a place within a few hours. Nick, stop teasing her and show her." The last statement puzzled me, somewhat, but I was too irritated by this turn of events to ask. Elena was already dismissing us. I glanced at Clayton, who wasn't budging, but Nick was getting up. We left them to the meeting again, Nick's hand finding mine as we went into the older half.

I was kind of angry. No. I was really angry now. Forestwatch was my home, even if it had gotten scary with some new species of supernatural inside it, and to be told that 'Sorrry, we're squatting and we're going to stay'...

"Bloody squatters." I muttered, glancing back at the door that led into new Stonehaven, half tempted to go back and tell them that No! They couldn't just go and take over my home. What the hell? But I couldn't do it.

Nick swung me up into his arms, shocking me ,kissing my face over and over as he grinne down at me. "Look at you, Liz, all grumpy. Come on. Time to house hunt." He kissed my neck, my face, my lips, over and over. "Let's find a home."

He dragged me behind him, pulling me along upstairs into our little bedroom, and I crawled onto the bed beside him as Nick opened up his laptop and got his phone out.

"How do we find a house in two hours?" I muttered, tugging my legs up, suddenly having the urge to consume chocolate. Maybe it was the time of the month. Or maybe I really had something to be annoyed about this time. Okay, I got that they'd struggle to find a place isolated like Forestwatch, a place with a lot of land to run on, and that they'd draw attention to themselves if they moved now, but it didn't change that I felt ...as Nick had said... grumpy about it!

"We look. It's easy. Come here." Nick slid behind me, his legs around me, pulling the laptop into my lap. He snuggled against me and we tried to look. "We need at least eight bedrooms."

"Eight bedrooms? Are you mad?" I glanced back over my shoulder at Nick. He had to be kidding. "What do we put in the other ones? A trophy room?"

"One bedroom for each of the kids is six, with Matt. Then you and I need a bedroom, so that's seven. And one bedroom for our guests. Eight." Nick listed it off on his fingers, his arms squeezing my middle.

"Who's cleaning it?" I reminded him, nudging him. But actually... it suddenly didn't feel like such a bad idea. At some point they might want separate bedrooms. We might want to have someone live in as security. I didn't know. Hadn't there been some movie about a huge family and the kids claiming a tired old mansion? Cheaper by the dozen? I was starting to feel like that. One day Nick would pop up with another six kids. I wasn't sure I could cope with that idea. "Not me."

"Hire someone then." He nudged me. "Rich wife."

I scowled at the reminder. I didn't like the money, even if it did make the future a little less stressful, because it came with a huge catch. I wasn't sure I was up for 'running' a business. It didn't matter if the twins wanted it or not. I hadn't even started the business course yet and I was having doubts!

"Liz, sorry." Nick kissed my neck gently as I stiffened in his arms. He reached beyond us and close the laptop, his hands stroking my arms, my back, running his fingers through my hair. "I don't mean to stress you out with this. I was thinking about the kids, and about security, and those places have state of the art security. Plus you've got a security guy and his family, and they'd probably be more happy living near us. It'd make it easier for them. Truth is, all those big places are cheap now, the disease is causing the real estate market to crash."

Buying a house within two hours was not easy and I knew Elena knew this. We sat there, Nick's arms around me as we stared, using his charm on the phone when he was contacting people on the real estate market. When I had money, this made it slightly easier, as apparently people were willing to do almost anything. Rush almost anything.

"I hate money." I muttered. "Can we donate it all to charity?"

"You can do whatever you want with it, love, but most charities barely give much to the cause." Nick kissed the back of my neck. "Maybe you could do something of your own. Use it for your own charity. Right now, don't stress about it. We did need a few more bedrooms. Here. I was looking at this one earlier, checked it out, I wanted to show you it anyway." He actually slid sideways to his bedside table and pulled something out, something printed. A house advertisement. "This one wasn't listed online. I had to call around."

"You were calling around?" I took the advertisement.

"We've got three toddlers and two babies trying to share a room. It isn't working that well." Nick reminded me. "I know you're stressed. Take a look at it."

I stared at it. The first thing that stood out was the number of bedrooms. Nick had said 'eight'. This place, this mansion, it didn't have eight. It had twelve. I pointed the number out to him. "It has twelve bedrooms."

"So? Reece and his girlfriend might live there. We might hire a nanny. I don't know. Look at the photos." Nick shrugged lightly and nudged me.

I stared at the photos of the place. It was pretty stunning.

'A gem on a rare twenty eight acres of gardens and forest, located out in the country away from the stress of city life, this Georgian style manor is the very picture of the very style it was built to mirror. Although not entirely kept up, some restoration is required, it has been offered up by the family that has lived in it since the construction. Fireplaces are located in the graceful drawing room, in the elegant dining room, the mahogany lined library and the cosy family room. Nine bedrooms are located in the main manor, six of them lovingly restored, three the perfect project, two of them with their own fireplace. The garage will hold three cars easily, with an extended back for projects undertaken.'

"There's a lot of fireplaces." I muttered.

"Yeah, keep reading." Nick grinned.

'The cottage located deeper in the grounds is a simple one bedroom cottage, requiring further restoration, but has extensive vegetable and herb gardens that have been lovingly maintained by the elderly couple that lived there. Another larger two bedroom cottage is located near the entrance and was used as the servant's quarters, perfectly restored and ready for use about its own personal two car garage.'

I started to flip through the photos as Nick opened the laptop beside him and started to look for something. Big gardens, lawns, a vegetable garden, forest like it said, all kind of nice. The cottage was hte most attractive part for me, this tiny one bedroom thing that was dusty, sad looking, still with one of those wood fires. Like the old couple had refused to fix it up and had lived their entire lives there without wanting to alter a thing. It would need new floorboards, benches, probably a lot of new things, but it was cute.

"It's nice, Nick, and massive. Like I said. Who's cleaning it?" I yawned. "We have to do some serious looking now."

"What about-" He turned the laptop around. It was a photo of Nick. Beside a 'Sold!' sign. Holding up a 'Merry Christmas!' sign, the triplets beside him, Antonio on the other side. He had this face which was a mixture of espasperated and amused, trying to hold Lily, glancing over his shoulder at the big ass gates. "We just stop looking and see our new house?"

"Our house?" I stared at the sold sign. It took some time to connect it with the actual big ass mansion thing he'd just shown me. "YOu already bought it?"

Nick tugged something out of the desk and held it out. A giftbox. I opened it and held up a huge jingly thing of new and old keys.

"Merry Christmas." Nick nuzzled aginst my neck. "The couple trying to restore it were Australians and they'd planted all these Australian things all over the place. I thought... you might feel less home sick. THere. Reece liked it. He's already claimed a bedroom. Morgan wants to be your gardener. He hates city life."

I couldn't speak for a long time, just stared at the keys and the photo, stared at it like I'd gone mad and this was proof.

"How the hell... I know you and your dad are successful... but how..." I couldn't get the words out of my head. My jaw was opening and shutting.

"It's gotten cheap since the disease happened. Dropped so much in price you wouldn't believe it."

"I have to pay for it too, Nick, I can't- you can't just ..." I couldn't believe it. I stared at the house. "What about your Dad's house?"

"We'll live there while they're at school. Let Reece and Morgan run this place. And no." Nick nipped my neck gently. "I'm paying for this. You can pay for schools and renovation, if you want, but I wanted us to have a home. It's only a short drive from here."

"How short?"

Nick slid over google maps and showed me. It was literally fifteen minutes down the road. I'd never even heard of it, never even seen it, and yet there it was. Close to the highway to New York city, sure, and far off the road. I had seen it every now and then, seen the two bedroom cottage beside the road, and assumed that was exactly what the property was. A tiny house on a lot of bush. But the forest crowded around the driveway as it wound around into a large open area that wasn't viewable from the road and there it was, this massive building, surrounded by green. "It's at the back of Stonehaven. We had issues with them several times, those owners, when Elena came back. There were these deaths, some mutt killing people here, and they kept coming into Jeremy's land with hunting dogs trying to find the big dog killing everyone."

"Does Jeremy know you've got it?"

"He's trying to buy up the land around us for a bit of extra land. It was his idea to get this one." Nick replied softly. "He was right. It was perfect for you. Matt can still walk over. It's a bit of a hike, about an hour's walk from that house to this, but we'll buy him a bike. Make a path for him. Are you-" He hesitated. "Okay? With this? I know how you feel about expensive things but I thought this was more practical than clothing."

"Okay? I'm ..." I wasn't sure. I really wasn't sure. "I don't know. I'm stunned. Do I get the one bedroom cottage to myself?"

"Course you can." He nodded. "Morgan was tempted to ask but when he saw it didn't have internet and it'd take a few months to renovated it properly for it he changed his mind."

For a while I sat there, staring at the keys, at the photos, and then at the price of the place in the print out. Nick was right. Originally it had been a hell of a lot of money. Even he couldn't have afford this place. But it'd gone down by so much since the disease started to take over that I might have been able to buy it myself, without the twin's inheritance, it had dropped so much. No one wanted to buy houses right now. The economy, which had already been struggling, was now almost screwed all over the world. People were dying all over the place, businesses going out of business...

"What about your dad's business? Shouldn't the money-"

"It's okay. Dad's a natural and apparently it's doing well." Nick shook his head. "I hoped you'd like it."

He sounded disappointed. I suddenly felt bad. I twisted around, kissing him hard, dropping the keys beside us on the bed. "Of course I do. Nick, I'm just... _please_ tell me this is the only present you're buying me all year."

Nick laughed at that and nodded. "It's your only Christmas present. Mine too. We can go visit it tomorrow, it's all ready. Everyone already knows except you."

"That's why Elena was letting them shove me out?"

"Mmmhmm. They'll already have the address." He shut the laptop and tugged me against him, wrapping his arms around me. "It's our last house. We're not going to move again. We can get old in that place."

"I hope not." I tried to relax, leaning against his chest, my legs over his legs.

Everyone came the next morning to see it, except for the big kids and the triplets, and we stared at the place as we drove around the forest. It really was hidden so well from the road. I would have never known it was here. Antonio introduced me to my 'security half-demon''s family, who turned out to be another very normal and very common name, Dylan Thatcher, his wife Georgia Thatcher- apparently Paige's friend and another witch- and their new baby. They'd already been living here in the two bedroom place for a few days now.

I let Nick carry me over the threshold, as if we were married all over again, and was lowered into the hallway. It was clean. Really clean. Things shone, the fireplaces looked clean, everything looked and smelt clean. I had been expecting it to be dusty and to need hours of cleaning to be done.

"How long has it been since the last people have been here?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder at Antonio as Nick raced up the stairs like a kid.

"Georgia and a few hired people already went through it. She was happy for any extra cash at this time." Antonio hugged me close. "I know it's a big place. Come with me. I had something done for the three of us."

I followed him through the ground level and into an extension: large rather modern looking study, a contrast from the more traditional and old building, where there were three workstations set up. Three desks.

"You can study, Nick can work. I won't stay here as much but I thought this might be useful." Antonio smiled down at me, squeezing my shoulders. "No babies allowed in here. The door's a barn door- you can have it half open. There's an older study which I might borrow if I'm here- a lot of my work has to be private, I'm afraid. But you'll be glad about it when the kids have to do homework."

"Is the barn door to keep the animals in or out?" I muttered and he laughed softly, kissing my head, leading me back out into the rooms. There were a lot of rooms. I wasn't even sure what each was for. But the study extension was right beside the older library, lined with shelves and wood panels, which I had to admit I liked. The kitchen wasn't small and the storage room had a drying closet – so I could dry my own herbs and things.

Nick led me through the upper floor like an excited kid, his hand clutching mine, like we were exploring secret tunnels and bedrooms of some long lost building. There was a master suite, of course, still empty. It even had a fireplace. A spa bath. All modern, all clearly new, and then beyod that a walk in closet which I could already picture being filled with mostly Nick's clothing.

The original building had only six bedrooms, I discovered as we explored. The extension with the large study had added on the last three- three slightly narrow but large enough rooms, and all three of them ready for use. Two of the old bedrooms, with a bathroom between them, had been restored as well. The other three bedrooms, the ones that need a lot of work, we didn't even go inside. The floor was faded and old, it was probably safe, but no one had bothered to clean it up much. The carpets in the last three bedrooms, the older ones, would need pulling up and burning. The walls would need to be stripped, probably treated for mold, and repainted, and the same thing for the ceilings. The windows let in the cold wind so easily that we were quick to shut the door and put the door stopper back along the edge of the door frame.

"We can fix them." Nick let me know as he led me back down the stairs. "The one above the garage has its own bedroom. I figured Reece or Morgan could repair it and then they could claim it for themselves. Till then we've got enough bedrooms for us, the triplet can have one, the twins, Matt can get his own, and we've got one. Dad's got one and Reece and Morgan can share one till one of them gets to work."

"You have it all planned out?" I had to smile. Nick actually looked worked up about this, about this giant house with some old dodgy rooms, like he couldn't wait to get into it and start to claim it properly.

"Yeah. I've bought green paint for the triplet's bedroom. Um." He blinked, realising he'd never asked me about this, and added sheepishly, "If you don't mind me deciding on that?"

"As long as you don't mind me painting them pictures and stuff, go ahead." I smiled, kissed him gently, which relaxed Nick a lot more. He continued his tour of his new house, hand in mine, pointing things out.

We spent the next few weeks trying to get it turned into a house before winter came. Mansion. Whatever it was supposed to be called. Most of the fireplaces wouldn't be used this winter- the restrictions and rations would only let us have one- which didn't worry me in the slightest. I claimed the family room as our 'fire room', a large cozy room with a curved window outwards onto a covered patio, with a door into the kitchen. It was closed up and would stay warm easily.

Nick might have been tempted to suggest we use 'traditional' furniture. I wouldn't let him. I filled it up with my style, telling him he could decorate his living room however the hell he wanted, and instead used our old couches, our scuffed and dented coffee table, our lamps, all the things that hadg gotten a bit worn from two years of toddlers, werewolves and general wear and tear.

The couches were a warm tan, the coffee table, with drawers concealed in the middle, had a large scratch where Nick and Clayton had been play fighting and had fallen down, breaking off one of the handles for the drawers. I still had to replace it. The lamp tables had a few stains from coffee or tea or juice, as people ignored the table protector things for matts- maybe they weren't amused by my choice of the cat shape- and one of the lamps, a deep forest green, was dented on one side from someone probably having fallen on it and then pretended nothing had happened. The only new thing I let him put in were new rugs- the family room had floorboards, most of them needing re-polishing, and it'd need to be done during summer. The rugs were lush and warm. Our TV was put into a concealed cupboard against the wall, shelves put up so we could put the books there, and a toy chest for the toddlers. Near that would be where we'd put a Christmas tree, I was already planning that far ahead, and the porta-cot closer to the fire so the twins didn't get too cold.

It was a nice distraction from Pack business but it didn't last long. Elena was getting multiple calls from Mutts now, demanding the cure, and it was pissing both her and Clayton off big time. I worked from our new 'house', from the study, calling them and informing them the same thing. Over and over. Join our mailing list.

We actually created a mailing list. It amused me but it was true. A 'mutt mailing list'.

I had to watch Pav leave again after those two weeks. Vi came to live with us after, she'd promised to help, but she was quiet for a while.

Reece behaved himself. I couldn't believe it, was amazed, but when it was clear she wasn't trying to blow him off he didn't rush off after her. He didn't try and run away. He actually took his punishments, which involved running him to the point of exhaustion and or changing, like a champion. Antonio took one look at the old house's rooms and pointed at them. Reece started to work like I'd never seen him work, threw his shirt off, and got into it with everything he had to do. That was going to be his punishment. He was going to have to single handedly repair each of the bedrooms and the cottage, keep up the grounds, and he just took it all with one big smile. He was only allowed to get assistance from us with Antonio's permission and was not allowed to leave the new house. Which, as it was on a large property, turned out to not be such a bad thing.

He helped Nick paint the two new nurseries, one green and one yellow, set up cots for the twins, set up the toddler beds for the triplets, and we watched with amusement as the triplets threw themselves onto their beds with glee. They'd started to try and crawl into our bed, into Matt's bed, so to be given one each? Of their very own? Nick filmed the entire thing. School, their own beds, even their own bathroom now, they were already growing up way too fast for me.

I kept expecting things to happen. I didn't know what. Selene to appear at our door. Reece to run away. The skin-walker to show up. Things did happen, far away, sightings of Daniella, the CEO position filled, and yet it seemed like we were in a bubble.

Nick grinned at me as I watched Reece cheerfully sand the walls, a dust mask on, shirt off and singing away to the radio, nudging me. "See? He had to get laid. Men need different things to women. He'll be like this till she gets back. All cheerful and happy."

"That mean I don't need sex? Better keep up this dry spell." I teased him, ignoring his soft growl, nudging him right back. It'd been because of the miscarriage- I couldn't handle it, the intimacy, but then it'd turned into exhaustion from babies. Now though, with my body starting to recover and the shock of it fading, I was starting to feel... a little unattended. That was the right word for it. Lying next to him, feeling him brush against me at night, or the kisses we'd steal when we got our chance, it was leaving images in my head that I wanted to try out.

I had to admit. Now I wanted it.

We just kept getting too buggered to do much.

Then suddenly, Christmas was only a week away. Three weeks had already passed. I wasn't sure where they had gone, except that we'd been full of our new 'house', I'd been studying, threatening mutts to behave or bugger off, and suddenly Clayton was at our door.

"You gonna come buy some presents this year?" He asked, casually, as he came in. Gazed around. "Nick wanted this huge place?"

"He's loving it." I smiled somewhat. I'd spent a lot of time at Stonehaven anyway, staying overnight there the first few weeks, but somehow it was a relief to have our own home. We'd be going back for Christmas over a few nights. Matt barely wanted to leave it, though he was excited about the property here, and I'd already caught him running wild- this little red wolf, running through the rain, exploring it all. "I think he likes being creative."

"Reece said you needed presents and supplies for his work." Clayton nodded a fraction. I led him into the family room, which more or less looked like what it had in Forestwatch, and Clayton visibly relaxed inside it. "This is better. More like you."

"I told Nick he wasn't changing a thing about it." I commented, leaning against the wall, as Clayton wandered around to look at the wall of photos. Everyone was there, the entire Pack, the triplets, the twins, the entire wall just covered in photos.

"Good." Clayton smiled somewhat as he gazed over the wall and then around the room. "Got something to snack on before we go shopping?"

In other words, I was going, whether I liked it or not. He probably needed my 'people mover' car to cart all the stuff we needed back.

"Check the fridge in through that door." I pointed at the door to the kitchen. "I'll ask Reece to get the back seats out of the car."

"Elena's exploring the garden with Matt. She's coming with Nick in the other car to get the rations." Clayton called and I headed upstairs to where Reece was still sanding walls. He glanced over as I opened the door.

"We have to go shopping. Do you mind helping me get the people mover empty?"

"Course." Reece dropped the sander, unplugged it, and shook the dust free of himself. He threw the mask to one side and followed me downstairs into the garage. The people mover's back seats could all be removed. This was good for us- it meant we suddenly had this car with a large empty back space- and Reece lined the seats up along the back as I got a tarp down over the fabric to protect it from whatever we were getting.

"You said you needed stuff?"

"Yeah." Reece tugged a crumpled list out of his pocket, a pencil falling out, shaking more dust free from it. "The room I'm in has some stuff wrong with it. Just show them this and they'll know what you need."

"Stuff wrong?" I glanced at the list. Half of it made no sense to me.

"Some holes, some mold damage, nothing I can't handle." Reece grinned. He blinked as he heard his phone and lifted it up. "Selene's still in Alaska."

"Is she telling you what she's doing?"

"Not allowed." Reece's smiled faded a moment. But then he grinned and held the phone up to me. "But she sent me this."

It was a shot of her cleavage.

"I don't want to know what you said to her to get her to do that." I pushed it away, lifting my eyes as he laughed, shaking my head somewhat.

"Said or showed?" Reece waggled his eyebrows, grinning at me, and leaned against the wall. "I think they're doing some kind of magic up there. I don't lnow. Her aunt wanted to drive up but they ended up flying up to some island. Her brother and grandfather are still down here working on the skin. Guess there's no magic to make it instantly ready."

"Guess not." I wasn't sure how they'd gotten Daniella's... how she'd been used so fast. The question nagged at me but I pushed it away, not quite able to face the reality of ...of what it meant. What they'd done. I still saw her in my dreams.

Reece's smile had faded though, as if his mind had gone to the same dark place I had, and even for all his hard work, and his real happiness about his new girlfriend, I saw it. He was not healed. He wasn't even close to it, there was a really dark place there, one that I didn't want to see rise up again. It reminded me that we had to find out about this skin-walker. They may have vanished for now but it didn't change the fact there was one huge problem.

"Elena's been looking into it." He said after a while, scratching his arm, glancing away. Reece's eyes avoided mine now. "Hope's got some leads. She isn't sure if she's allowing me to take part in it yet."

"She hasn't even spoken to me about it." I admitted. "So at least you're hearing about it still."

That bothered me a little too. Elena hadn't really talked to me much about ANY pack business beyond the 'threaten the mutt' job. I knew I was going to have to be punished too. Was she letting me settle in here? Get used to a routine, to the business course, what?

Once again, I felt that nagging 'everyone's trying to protect me' feeling, and frowned too now. It never occurred to me before that this was how it was. It was almost like I'd been given this giant place TO distract me. Why? What was going on? I couldn't see it as something Nick had done- he was far more distracted than I was, rushing all over his new home like an eager child with a new toy. He'd found the cellar yesterday complete with a wine room. With wine in it. He'd gone on about his 'wine collection' for hours till I threatened to drink it all to shut him up.

Reece stood up and hugged me, tugging my hood over my head, as Clayton came through with a couple of paper bag's worth of food.

"Got the list?"

I held it up. "Clay, is something going on?"

Clayton didn't answer. He took the list, read it over, and then shrugged at me. "Things are always going on." Not a no. Not a yes either, but not a no. "Your fridge is nearly empty."

"Yeah." I noticed that. Today was 'ration day' and we still had to figure out how to balance the food from Stonehaven over this way too. "Rations today."

"I'll talk to Elena about it. Come on. Let's get this moving brick out of the garage and let them know we're going." Clayton's gaze fixed on Reece. "You taking a break?"

"I'll get some lunch and weed the garden. Come here." Reece grabbed me in a warm hug, dust and all, maybe seeing the expression I had. He got it better than anyone, except Nick, knew how to read me. "I'm going to plant some more Aussie flowers and a wattle today. A Variable Sallow Wattle. It can handle the snow."

"Good." I leaned against him, breathing out slowly, reminding myself to meet up with him tonight and ask him. "Show me tonight when the kids are in bed."

"Will do. Have fun shopping." He leaned back and headed back through the door to the main house.

Clayton got into the driver's seat and I slid in beside him. As we were backing out I noticed my wedding ring wasn't on. Huh. I must have left it in the bathroom again, I had this habit of doing that, but at least it wasn't lost.

Clayton wound down the window as we pulled out into another hard shower of rain, as Elena hurried in with Matt, calling, "Get into shelter! We're going. You get dry before you come."

She rolled her eyes at him. I'd noticed he'd gotten more protective over her, maybe a little too much, now that Elena's pregnancy was out in the open. Literally, it seemed, because over the past three weeks she'd really started to show with or without baggy clothing. She'd decided to go ahead but I knew that she'd been close, even had an appointment booked, to ending it.

"We'll be a few minutes behind. Where's Nick?"

"He's in the study. Something about an issue with a client. You might have to wait a bit longer than a few minutes." I called across the car and she sighed, nodded, and patted Matt's back.

"That's okay. Show me your house. I want to see what's changed in the past few days."

Matt nodded, Clayton called 'Take it easy, Elena', as we pulled out, and we headed into town.

I relaxed against the side of the car, feeling a bit odd without my rings on now that I'd noticed, watching Stonehaven come and go past. It looked peaceful. I kind of missed it, I had to admit, I had liked living there. It had been crowded but that hadn't mattered too much. It was our other home.

We started with the renovation things, all the things Reece needed, finding out that even those things were more or less rationed out these days. Clayton, with his accent and his 'cold charm', managed to get the flushed girl at the counter to slip us what we needed though. Funny how it worked like that- he was a cold bastard to humans, but he was gorgeous, and some girls just loved that in a guy.

I thought it was a bit rude and he laughed when I told him so.

"Yeah?" He hugged me, shocking me with the public affection, and shook his head. "Maybe you're right. Sorry, sweetheart, I'm a little tense." He shot the girl such a smile that she almost dropped the money she was putting away.

I shook my head at him as he grinned. I saw what he'd done though- the girl slipped out with another small bag of concrete. Free sample. I rolled my eyes, he shrugged, and we headed out to the car as his fake smile slipped back off his face, he lifted up the door we'd had to buy, and carted it out under one arm as the girl gazed at him with open admiration.

We carefully arranged the things in the back of the people mover over the door, some buckets of plaster, a bag of another kind of plaster, tins of paint, paint brushes, rollers, new sanding stuff, some wood lining stuff, other wood stuff, glue, concrete, door handles, fertiliser, all kinds of things that I knew Reece wouldn't have asked for if he hadn't needed. Taps and pipes were wrapped up in some scrap fabric to protect the car from them. He was working on the bedroom over the garage, trying to fix the bathroom to get it to work, and had already gotten us to get a new bathtub and toilet. Apparently he wanted to do it all himself. I was still holding my breath about that- I wasn't sure if Reece was a plumber like he thought he was. He'd wanted to do the wiring too but I'd convinced him to let me hire someone for it, thankfully, and was glad when I found out it was more or less already fixed. They must have started the job.

We were loading the car when we saw Nick and Elena pull in beside the Town Hall, the twins in the car, clearly intending on using them again as a 'Please help us hurry because these are my adorable twins' trick. It worked pretty well. That woman in charge lived to see the twins every week. Or maybe she had a crush on Nick, I didn't know, I wasn't too worried about it. Elena had gotten on the baggy clothing again now. It wasn't going to be long before it was blindingly obvious she was pregnant.

"Anne, come on. Nick's fine." Clayton nudged me and we pulled out, waving to them as we moved past, and headed down for Walmart. Closing down sale meant that it had a lot of things it was trying to get rid of- they were closing a lot of Walmarts down now. It was crowded and people were trying to get Chirstmas shopping done with the restricting on everything.

For a closing down sale it was more expensive than usual, I noticed, and sighed. Everything was still expensive. And there were still no signs of the 'healthy'. It was strange that for all the sick still around, and there were a lot of buildings now marked off as the home of a sick person or people, I hadn't yet heard about the healthy. Was that bad news or were people still sick after all this time? The death toll had risen dramatically till we couldn't watch the news now. And after Christmas New York was going to be having its own 'gas and electrisity' on and off times. All power would be shut down between the hours of ten and three in the daytime, nine and six at night, and all gas only on between the hours of five pm and seven am. The costs of those two needs had gone through the roof too which meant that people were skimping. I'd heard stories of people dying from hypothermia simply because they couldn't afford heating and it wasn't even snowing yet.

I followed Clayton around the store, as we tried to find presents for the kids, being as creative as we could. A magnetic white board could be great for the triplets, I reasoned, we could attach it low down and give them big magnetic pictures to put on there. I'd have to make them myself- all the magnets were too little with Rose crawling and Reece not far behind- but it could work. Kate wanted a pink bedspread and Clayton offered to pay me to make it for her, so we bought fabric, a mix of things that were pink, tea towels, silk runners, and a plain pink silk bedspread that I could decorate easily. Logan wanted a telescope and binoculars. They both got new bikes- they were getting tall now, as did Matt.

We took the big things out to the care and carefully slid them in next to the other things, using the bags of fabric as buffers to protect them a bit, and headed back in again. Tiny toys for the little ones. Luckily we could re-use toys for the twins, re-wrap, re-paint, whatever I could think of. They were too little too care and the triplets had forgotten about the toys that they used to play with when they were tiny. The triplets just got a few toys, a few things here and there, Matt got a camera of his own, and we ended up reasoning that we'd just donate food for the Christmas dinner and that'd be the 'adult's presents'. Everyone giving up something from their rations for the feast.

"What about these?" I held up a handful of fistsied stuffed animals. Clayton snorted as he looked at them, prodding a crab's pincher, shaking his head.

"They might not last."

"I could reuse them. Crab shaped things all over Kate's bedspread. She can tell you she's got crabs." I grinned, giggling a little at the look on his face, and wasn't the least bit surprised when he threw the crabs back in the toy bin. "Daddy, I got crabs?"

"That ain't funny, Anne." He shot me a look and it just made me laugh harder. Clayton grabbed onto me, holding me, as he threw some 'approved' stuffed animals into the trolley. "There. Prey animals."

"Such a hunter." I teased as I grabbed some of the hunter animals. "They should have a balance."

"Balance my ass." Clayton snorted, making a grab for the crabs as I picked them up again, only to miss. I snuck the half dozen hand sized crabs in beside the rest. Couldn't wait to get Kate to say that to him on Christmas morning.

"When we we getting the trees?"

"Got a couple ordered for us already." Clayton replied as he dropped a football into the trolley. "I'll get them tomorrow and bring yours around."

"Thanks, that'd be helpful." I nodded, as we got a little serious again, his arm still draped over my shoulder. I wasn't sure why though.

When he came closer to kiss the side of my forehead, I blinked, as I was tugged into his chest for a full on cuddle. "What's going on?"

"Nothing much." His lips found mine then, which scared the hell out of me, till I felt his lips say softer, "We're being followed. Stop looking like I've gone mad."

"You _have_ gone mad." I muttered. I liked the guy, sure, but kissing? It was like kissing your grandpa. Sad but true. It felt kind of icky.

"Pretend to be my wife and shut up. Elena's not protected." He hissed, kissed me, and then slid back. I got it then. If they were following us instead of Elena, they either thought I was Elena or that Elena wasn't around and getting to Clayton was better. Either way it was safer to play 'couple'.

I pretended. We wandered on through the crowds, shopping for toys, Clayton keeping his arm around me and keeping me close now. I didn't see who he had and I didn't look around- it would have been suspicious. He wanted them to keep it up. Maybe he was hoping they'd follow us outside and follow the car, so that he could lure them somewhere and 'question' them.

We never got to that point. The crowd kept jostling, pushing, shoving, and neither of us noticed something was wrong until Clayton swore softly and leaned more heavily on me.

"What?"

"Dunno, but keep walking. For the car. Forget the toys." He muttered. I hesitated, Clayton turned me around, and we abandoned the trolley.

It was halfway out the store that I felt it too. Dizzy, started to feel disorintated, like I couldn't quite ...figure out which way was up. Clayton's weight wasn't helping.

I had to stop and the second I did, arms pulled us apart, something pressed into my back, and we were told to keep walking. So we did, Clayton glancing sideways, his face a little more pale as he caught sight of what it was jabbed into my back. He pursed his lips and did as he was told, swaying, and we were shoved into the back of a car.

A police car.

I wasn't sure what was going on. They looked like cops, cops I'd never seen before, and they locked us in the back. My head was starting to swim more, Clayton was starting to slump against my side, and I felt numb. My arms weren't moving.

No, they were, but they were handcuffed. Handcuffed? Had they thought we were shoplifting? What the hell?

There wasn't time to ponder it, to worry about it. Seconds after Clayton passed out I did as well, head too heavy to hold up, my eyes fluttering down as I passed out. The last thing I felt was the motion of the car as it pulled away from the shops.

For those who feel curious about how it actually looks-

Their new house (and FINAL house) is based off the House Plan #ADI30-313 Edgewood. Feel free to gawk at it.

I actually picture it looking a little like : House for sale in Bellevue Ave , Rumson, NJ, 07760 - 11 bedrooms … but with Anne going around it trying to make it look like a house, not a museum.

The two bedroom cottage is based off House Plan #DD-2931

The one bedroom cottage is a run down version of House Plan #HPG-600B

I have hurt my back so chapters may be a little shorter than usual. :) I'm tempted to give Selene her own chapters from now on, at least till she returns, so let me know if you're curious about what she's been up to. Besides naughty photos.


	8. Mistakes

Sorry about the length of the chapter! ;o; I'm taking some anti-inflammatory things for the back now.

* * *

><p>We lay side by side. It was dark. I only opened my eyes a fraction, feeling Clayton somewhere near my back, arms aching like hell from the things still around my wrists. I thought they were handcuffs. Maybe they weren't. They were tough.<p>

I felt Clayton shift over, shift against my back, and the side of his face brush against the side of my face as he snuggled in. For a moment it felt like he thought I was Elena, the way he cuddled up close and intimate like this, but I caught sight of the little camera in the dark room, as I peeked out from under my lashes, and didn't shove him backwards.

Funny. It was always us. Wasn't it? Something about provoking this poor guy, people just had to come along and prod him, like they had a stick and had found a beehive. Prod, prod, prod...

It was lucky I didn't shove him back. A soft voice, very soft, murmured, "Pretend you're Elena."

I thought I must have misheard him.

"Stay still, roll over, and face me. Pretend you're Elena. Pretend to sleep." Clayton's voice was barely reaching my ear. I did what he said, rolling over, pretending to be in a blissful drugged sleep as I did, ignoring the screaming of my arms as they continued to be held backwards.

I kept my eyes shut lightly, feeling him shift closer, forehead against mine, legs threading through mine so we could 'cuddle' without our arms actually able to do much. This wasn't good. Cops? Had he shoplifted? I seriously doubted it. Something about it all seemed bizarre. I didn't like the idea of pretending to be Elena either. It felt wrong to even think about pretending to be the Alpha. Like pretending to be God. A bad comparison, maybe, but everything in my nature went against this idea. You did NOT just pretend to be the Alpha. My eyes opened slightly to see what was going on with him. He looked like he was sleeping but the tenseness in his shoulders, in his face, things I knew him well enough now to know meant 'I'm just about ready to hit something'...

There wasn't time to argue. The lights flashed on, I flinched a little, and feet came into the room. Smell of humans. Perfume. Some kind of hair product that smelt like berries, chemicals and plastic. Dry cleaned fabric. Heels on the tiles.

"You sure that's Elena?" A woman asked, a clipped voice, business like.

"No wedding ring. No ID. The guy's Clayton Denvers all right. The other one was following the Sorrentino man around. Plus, she's pregnant from the looks of the cancelled appointment she made at the abortion clinic and look." Another woman. Something, probably a foot, rolled me onto my back, onto my arms, and shoved my shirt up above my stomach.

"She's pregnant."

Ow. That _hurt_. I was not pregnant. I just had a little more curves to me.

"So we got the right werewolves? Alpha and Protector. Good. Drug them again and we'll tell the boss to go get the Pack."

"Yea-"

I felt Clayton move suddenly, the metal snapping around his wrists, and my eyes snapped open to see him grab the woman by the throat. I yanked at my own wrists. No luck. But there wasn't time to moan about it, I slid up, easing up, backing up behind Clayton as he lifted the panicking human woman up.

"You wanna tell us what we're doing here?"

She just gurgled at him. The other woman, backing up, slammed her fist on something on the outside of the door. Alarms rang. Gas. The door shut behind her, locking the three of us in the room, as the room started to fill with the gas. A snap from the woman and she went limp. No time to be horrified by that.

Clayton gazed up and bared his teeth somewhat, dropping the floppy woman and slamming his shoulder against the door.

The gas worked pretty fast though. He slumped down and it was seconds before whatever it was they were pumping into the room made me do the same. We woke some time later, head aching like we had the hangover from hell, but our wrists were more or less still unsecured. The woman was gone and we'd been left food. It smelt like she'd been gone for a long time, when I knelt down to check, but I didn't sniff the floor- I kept that damn camera in the corner of my vision at all times.

Neither of us wanted to touch the food. Neither of us wanted to go feral, either, but food in this situation seemed absurd. Particularly with what it was- two plates covered in pancakes, raspberries, cream cheese, ice cream and the real maple syrup. Ham. A lot of it, like giant thick chunks of it, so much that it made my mouth water. Tubs of yoghurt. A long slice of chicken slices. So much food. _That_ scent got up in my nose pretty fast in the tiny space, covering up everything else. I was hungry. Clayton stood up and tried to pry the things off his wrists. He glared at the food as if it was distracting him as much as it was me.

"Don't touch it." He muttered. "They're testing what we like."

I saw what he meant. There were raw slices of beef too, raw meat, in containers. The camera was on us and they wanted to see what we'd want.

"You sure you didn't shoplift and this is some new American security?" I muttered.

"Didn't hear about this on the news." He wasn't in the mood for joking but he didn't tell me off, exactly, just tried to bend the metal and get it to let go. Clayton kicked the plate of food into one corner hard, so it all fell all over itself, and yet in my hunger it almost looked edible even like that.

A rumble from Clayton's stomach and his neck getting tense, tight, tendons getting worse, confirmed he was struggling too. The problem with starving a werewolf was that the longer we went without food, the less likely we were to control ourselves or our changes. Or who we fed on.

"How long have we been here?" I muttered, moving closer, standing close enough so our scents filled our heads instead- so that he could focus on pack-sister rather than food and stomach. It seemed to help him relax.

"Too long." He replied, reaching out to hold my arm in a hand, Clayton's fingers grasping it just a fraction too hard. He shut his eyes, lowering his head, just enough so that his curls brushed my hair, inhaling a long deep draw in. Out of all of us, Clayton was the one most likely to loose it here. Wasn't he? I wasn't sure. "They said they'd go for the Pack."

That was what was wrong. He was stuck here. Stuck in a cell, being tested food, and he wasn't sure if the pack was in danger or not. I trembled a little. Pictured Nick in a cell. My kids. Fuck, _my kids_. _Matt_.

I needed to inhale deep then, as if I was a smoker and he was some kind of ciggerete, drawing it into my lungs in return. Pack. It was okay. I had to stay calm too.

"Fuck it."

Clayton rammed his shoulder against the door before I could open my eyes, ramming against it so hard that the walls shook. How ever secure this place was, it didn't change the fact that Clayton was not a human, and it shuddered. The entire wall, the door, all of it. Something in the door bent just a fraction near the bottom.

Then the gas started again. Clayton didn't get a chance to re-do it and get the door open completely.

The two of us were forced to go to sleep again.

This continued several times. It was impossible to know how long we'd been there. Days. Hours? Clayton lasted about five minutes before he tried to break the door down again, every time, and something about these people made it impossible for them to figure out how to put a door in that he couldn't break. We saw six doors of different kinds but it wasn't just the doors Clayton was breaking. The wall had started to crack too. They were threatening his pack and suddenly he wasn't Clayton, as I knew him, he was crazy angry Pack Protector... well, angry, anyway. He was one hell of a smart man and that was just making what he did all the more effective.

It also didn't help that they were starving us. When Clayton changed, when it started, I was about to do it too. I didn't know how he'd be- what kind of state he'd be in- but he growled, "Hold on as long as you can," and I didn't resist the order.

Clayton, as a wolf, wasn't dangerous towards me. He stood close, just out of touching range, fur up, body showing his rage. When they tried to throw food in through a hole in the door he got his teeth into an arm and I smelt that the damage was pretty significant.

Then one day, or night, just when I was on the verge of loosing control over my own change we woke... and the door was wide open.

Clayton approached it consciously, keeping me behind him, his nostrils flaring as he moved closer to the door. He didn't give a damn what they thought of him now. Clearly, with what they'd seen, he fully intended on destroying them. Clayton replied, voice soft, pulling me closer. "Stick close to the protector, Alpha."

Oh yeah. I was supposed to be a pregnant Elena. Did this mean I had to act weak? Would she act weak? I somehow doubted it but I did what he said anyway, shifting closer, like I needed a protector. It'd just make it sweeter if I had to defend myself and see the shock on their face.

We made our way through the now empty corridors. From the smell of it, it had been used just minutes ago, but the alarms echoing up and down the corridor was probably the sign to 'get the hell into safety!' Why they needed this, I wasn't sure, but I saw multiple doors like ours along the hallway. Each had a alarm button.

Clayton ignored them. We heard feet coming. Boots and heels. I was shoved back roughly, hissing 'This how you treat your wife?' and heard him snort as he pinned me against the wall behind him.

Men. With guns. No, not men, though the uniform made it look that way. Men and women with guns. Soldiers? What the hell? The woman was back, heels, tailored suit, and she raised an eyebrow as Clayton moved closer.

"Calm down, Mr. Denvers. Come on. I suppose we'll move the meeting up a few hours if you insist." She was behaving like he'd politely insisted on a meeting, not like he'd just snapped someone's throat and even smiled, like she was pulling some kind of joke. "You both woke faster than we expected. Mrs. Sorrentino."

"I insist." Clayton didn't sound even remotely amused. He was one hundred percent back to being cold bastard and this time I did not tease him about it.

"Come along." She turned and led us away. With guns at us, there wasn't much chance for us to do anything but do as she said.

I wasn't sure where we were but we headed up a staircase, the armed people behind us, and slowly came into what looked like an office area. The windows were shut off, blinds drawn, and we were led into a small office. Neither of us liked it. It felt like one giant prison, one giant cage, and the armed Americans were bugging me big time.

"Lower your weapons." The woman snapped at the men. Women. Whatever they were under those androgynous masks and gear. "Honestly. I am sorry. I asked my people to find you, Anne. They took it as capture. George, take those cuffs off their wrists."

One of the people in the room not holding a gun, one of the people at a computer, came up intending on taking the chaffing metal objects off my wrists, and I struggled to not shove him back, attack him or... my skin prickled again, I breathed in deep, Clayton's hand coming to rest against my arm as he tried to get close. "I'll do it." He said casually, snatching the keys, and shoving the man back. "You might loose your pretty fingers."

Clayton undid my wrists and then I undid his, while we kept our attention on the armed guards and the strange woman, and he tossed them aside into one of the bins.

"My name is Nicola Seteian. This entire mix up must have you both furious with me. Where's that food, George?"

George was vanishing again fast and bringing food out. When we refused to eat it she sighed. Took some of the turkey. "It just arrived for our christmas lunch. I swear. We haven't poisoned our own food."

"Christmas lunch?" That really started to get me worked up. I squeezed my eyes shut, as the arm tightened. There were some days in our year that were big deals .Today was one of them. We did trees, we did feasting, we did gifts, and she was …

It was the need to change. It was making me unstable. I had to get outside and change.

"Think it's time you send us home then." Clayton suggested.

"Half an hour and you'll be on your way. I promise. This was supposed to be a meeting, an equal thing. As I said- it was a misunderstanding. They assumed I wanted you captured without knowing who you are."

"Bullshit." I heard myself snap. "You had cameras on us."

"Yes." Nicola agreed. "We know you're werewolves. But they weren't aware that I wanted to meet you because you own this company, not because I want to test you. Some of your mutts, the ones expelled from America, have been brought here. I have dealt with the idiots who mistreated their boss."

The words might have shocked me if I wasn't itching to tear out her throat. Everyone's throat. I was starving.

Clayton yanked the tray of food towards me and shoved the entire turkey at me once he'd sniffed it, checked it and made sure it was safe. By now I couldn't hide or pretend to eat nicely. I was hungry. The people in the room were starting to look less like humans and more like giant walking prey.

"Stop staring. You've got fifteen minutes before she's doing that to your leg. Twenty and I'll take an arm." He snapped at 'George', who was gawking at me. "You say this is the company her children have inherited?"

"Get some more food, George. All of it." Nicola ordered. She nodded as he rushed off. "This is your company. I know, I know, CEO recruitment, but we still view you as the owner. Most shares are in your name now. Right. Fifteen minutes. We need to show you something, as the Boss around here, and we need you to decide what to do with the Alpha. As it's probably not polite to take the Alpha-"

"Damn right it isn't."

"-then we were intending on asking you, Mr. Denvers to take her place. Or your father. Not capture you. This is simply to show you the problem, the Boss and your pack, and let you discuss it amongst yourselves."

"I'm not interested." I wasn't. I was only interested in hunting. Control slipped a fraction more as I found a bone. I couldn't eat it- my body couldn't handle it like this- but the urge made it so hard to put it down. So so hard. And it was Christmas. "We have to get back. No business on Christmas, right, Clay?"

"Pack rules."

"A show and tell. I'll show you what I have to show you and then you're heading home with my contact details and food."

Food wasn't going to cut it for long. I'd have to run before I faced the pack. But if this was going to make her shut up and get us out...

"Sorry." Clayton said quietly. He was rolling up his sleeves. "You've got five minutes to get us into a car and on the road, or you'll have two hungry wolves running loose."

"It isn't-"

It was too late for me. Too fucking late. I felt it, felt my control slip, and felt Clayton hoist me under an arm as I slipped away.

SPACE

I didn't stay a wolf for long, Clayton told me after, just long enough to nearly tear an arm off, pace around the stationary closet, and eat everything that was thrown in. Then he lost it and we ended up in the closet together, eating, growling, more than willing to kill them. All of them.

After we woke more or less at the same time, surrounded by what was probably going to be their Christmas lunch. Tough. Platters all over the place.

When we came out, I felt a little less stressed, a little more calm, but my stress and anger was still at an all time high. Clayton seemed to be calmer than I was. He strode ahead and pressed some button I wasn't aware of. It seemed to alert her to the fact that we were more or less alive again.

This time, when Nicola came back, I saw her properly as a woman. Not as prey. A proud woman, tall, beautiful, shiny dark hair and... I had seen her before.

She'd been kneeling in front of Nick in the alleyway, his pants down, when he'd been ...well, when he'd been an idiot. I forgave him. He said he didn't know what happened and I believed him. But her? What the hell was this slut doing _here_?

"It's you." I gaped at her, shock, anger, suddenly hitting me so hard that my body actually shuddered, fists balling as I lunged. Clayton's arms grabbed me and yanked me back hard. "The slut!"

"An interesting way to put it." Nicola's tone had gotten a little icier. "I did require a sample of DNA from a male wolf and there's a sure way to get it. Nick didn't seem to mind the feminine attention."

"He's my mate." I could have said husband but the word mate slipped out with a low dark growl, trying to lunge again, Clayton's arms tightening. "You don't touch my mate or his... slut."

"How else would I get his semen?" She asked coldly.

Clayton's arms let go then, as he got what I was angry about, and I lunged at her. Only to be hit back with the back of a gun, the barrel pointing at my head.

"I wouldn't mind a sample from you either, Mr. Denvers, if you require the -" She smiled somewhat, her lips suddenly moistened by her tongue, "-attention."

Clayton let her know exactly what he thought of that idea with a few choice threats that made her pale.

"Let her up, idiot. That's your boss that you're pointing a gun at." The woman turned around. The security guard seemed to pale a little at that, his eyes going from me to the bruise that was probably already a stunner on my face, and then he backed off fast. Clayton hoisted me up onto my feet.

"We're not your enemies, Ms. Sorrentino. I was doing my job. Now I work for you and I am making sure everything is transparent. My name is Nicola, by the way, not slut."

I glared at her. "Maybe I should fire you."

"Which would be understandable, yes, but unwise. I know this division. I liaise with the FBI and CIA and several other organisations that'd kill me here and now if I uttered their name. I work for you and I care about my work, not your ethics." She shrugged lightly as she sat down in a chair and pressed a button. A computer opened. "I brought you here simply to introduce myself and show you what problems we're having. Remember? A fifteen minute show and tell before I send you both home in time for Christmas dinner."

"So you got us thrown into a police car, handcuffed and kidnapped?"

"Is that how they brought you here? I knew it was rought but... I'll fire them. I suppose they were nervous about approaching two fully grown werewolves and announcing that we knew what you were." She raised an eyebrow as she fixed her eyes on Clayton. "We all know your policy for humans."

"It's our Law." I snapped.

"In the space of twenty years, you've rewritten several laws and now have more children than any other pack, ensuring your own Pack's future strength and security. No other Pack in the world currently has such a successful future ensured as yours does. Now it's time to rewrite those laws again." She returned her attention to the computer as she fed something into it. A password? More than one, multiple passwords, over and over.

"That ain't for you to say, human." Clayton spat. He shot her a scathing look as she laughed.

"No. It isn't. But we handled the outcome of the disease long before your Pack did and we're still handling it. The fallout requires your specialised knowledge. And I know that your Alpha's got connections to others. Sorcerers. Witches. Necromancers. We're going to need help."

"Help?"

"That ain't for us to say and you-" I growled softly, "Should have come to us. A meeting. Private. Not have us brought to you. This is something our Alpha has to hear. On our own land. On our terms alone."

"I couldn't bring this to you." She finished putting in passwords and pressed enter. The blinds opened.

The office was up high. It reminded me a little of Stargate, of their controller room, except that this office was above a warehouse so large that it resembled a football field. We stepped closer, staring down, flood lights illuminating the floor.

Hundreds of people were down there. It was divided into two halves, right down the middle, and it reminded me of some horror film about some vampire harvesting place. Humans, I had to assume they were, were everywhere. On one side they were awake, watching TV, eating, doing things. Armed guards watched them. The other side was stretchers, hospital beds, with more armed guards.

"We keep the dangerous ones sedated." She pointed at the half that was all sleeping. "Those others are safe."

"What the hell is this?" Clayton snapped as he stared at it.

"Humans, sent to us by the government, humans that have recovered from the disease. This company's been hired to discover the cause, so they can use it."

"Why are they here?" I stared at them in horror. It wasn't just adults. Kids were down there too. The elderly. So many.

She smiled then, stood up, and moved to stand near us. My hair rose as she did, wanting to snap her neck still, but she ignored me.

"There's been a two in three chance of people surviving from the pandemic. They estimate that a third of the world's population will be wiped out by the end of the year. Seven billion humans, give or take, at the start of this year. By the end a third gone."

I couldn't figure out the maths. How much was a third of …

"So you saying there'll be two billion?" Clayton got it fast, betraying his quick mind, his face scowling.

"Normally, that'd be the expected outcome, wouldn't it?" Nicola agreed. "But out of those that are surviving, which remain in quarantine, we're finding ...abnormalities."

"Abnormalities?" I couldn't help it. The way she looked at the humans, a mixture of amusement and envy, it was like this was no small thing.

"When your kind get sick with the disease, you're reduced to a human like state until the cure is given. When our kind gets sick, it flips it around, it brings latent things to the surface." She replied softly. "You're looking at the American humans that survived and are no longer human."

"They... they changed?" I asked.

"They changed. Interesting timing, don't you think?" Nicola turned her attention back to me. "We need you. Our boss dies. Here you are, just what we need, just at the right age. Young. Fit. Connected."

"I didn't kill him." I wished I had.

"No." She agreed as she returned her attention to the humans. "Nor did we. So here we are. I have shown, I have told, and the helicopter waits above for you both. This is my contact details and a summary of what I've told and shown you. It includes additional details for you to check. Merry Christmas. I'll be sure to punish the idiots heavily for throwing you two in a cell. They'll regret doing that to their boss."

I was given a heavy briefcase and she pointed at the security to escort us. Clayton scowled at them as they got a bit to close us in the hallway and when we got to the lift it got worse. I didn't blame him. I wanted to hit them too.

"You own a large house, don't you?" The pilot asked as we got in. He handed us ear things. "Good. We'll drop you off at your property."

And like that, we were whisked off in a helicopter, the two of us trying to drown the noise out with the ear things.

It was a long flight and we stayed close, warmth between our legs maybe keeping us calmer than we might have been otherwise, but my anxiety levels weren't helped by my hunger levels. Clayton seemed just as tense and upset. It wasn't surprising and if it hadn't been a week, a whole fucking week, he might not have been so eager to leave without first making it clear what'd happent o them if they did it again.

Maybe he intended on going back after Christmas. I was tempted.

Finally we saw it, the old mansion that Nick had bought, and Clayton's leg pressed harder against mine. I breathed out slowly. Half expected to see Nick come out. My babies. Anyone. This wouldn't be the kind of entrance they'd be expecting, that was for sure.

We jumped out as the helicopter landed, head low, and ran for the house as the helicopter took off again. It'd dropped us off some distance away on the lawn.

"Back to your castle, hm?" Clayton asked.

"Honestly, Clay?" I said softly as the helicopter left us standing on the lawn of the big house. "I think this house is a bit too big for me. It's pretty but I... at the risk of sounding ungrateful... kind of miss Forestwatch." There. I'd said it. I'd lasted three weeks in this place and I was already sick of it.

"Glad you think so. I was worried." He laughed as he stared at the huge house. "Nick's used to big houses. Grew up in a big one. I think it's a fucking waste of space."

"The land's good."

"Yeah, that's true. Shame you can't just put your house here." Clayton gazed around. "We'll kick those skinwalker things out of your home soon. This place sounds empty."

It did. It had that strange 'empty' sound to it. No one was here and I had to guess that meant everyone was now at Stonehaven eating their anxiety away. The lights were off, the fireplace wasn't going, and …

"I don't care. I'm starving. Clayton, let's eat before we head to Stonehaven. I know there's a huge dinner but ..."

"Glad you suggested it. Where do you hide your keys?"

I went for the space we'd hidden the keys and we let ourselves in. They must have spent the night at Stonehaven- the smells were fading- and while I knew this was normal for Christmas it didn't stop me from feeling anxious about my family's safety.

Clayton and I went to sit at the fridge, eating everything we could from it, till our anxiety had lessened somewhat and we could relax. The last thing we needed to do was freak out at the Pack because we were starving and strung out.

The drive itself to Stonehaven was the longest drive I'd been on. I sat there, twitching, Clayton tapping the wheel impatiently, as we tried to not hurry. It was cold and wet, though it hadn't started to snow yet, and the second we saw Stonehaven's gates there was this burst of speed from the car, which finished fast when Clayton got into the drive and remembered there were kids running around now.

I got out of the car first, running at the house, Clayton seconds behind me. Maybe it was geeky, maybe it was a bit corny, to want to go running back to the Pack like this. I didn't give a damn.

Nick burst out the door and apparently didn't give a damn either, he ran at me and swept me up, pulling me against him with a low growl and, "Where the fuck have you two been?"

I couldn't answer. He was too busy kissing me for me to get a word in. Nick lowered me down only when three pairs of hands tried to pull me into them, three toddlers grabbing at me and trying to hug me. Nick was shaking, literally shaking, as he let them at me. Matt wasn't far off.

"Briefcase. In car." I said, spotting the dark hair that was probably Antonio, and they went for the car while I let myself be attacked by three upset toddlers and one upset kid. Clayton was more or less getting the same treatment from his kids. Elena was just staring at him from the doorway.

"Merry Christmas?" Clayton called, sheepish grin on his face as she narrowed her eyes.

At least we'd gotten home in time for dinner.


	9. Christmas

I ended up on Reece's lap, which bothered Nick to no end, as Clayton repeated what we'd been told. The kids were more or less distracted in the living room by toys, except for the twins. I held onto one and Nick held onto the other.

"They apparently work with the government. Top secret shit. Been the ones researching into supernatural." Clayton was speaking, explaining what he'd remembered. "There's going to be a lot of humans dying from the disease. One in three. But those humans in the place. They ain't human now. Some kind of latent shit is apparently making them different."

Jeremy frowned, shifting straighter, he clearly got the numbers straight off. So did Elena. Their eyes met briefly.

I suddenly wondered about what she'd said. She said that one in three died, that they were researching a cure, but we had a cure for our type. So why were the supernatural getting the cure? "I'm actually starting to wonder how hard they're looking for a cure."

Some part of me still couldn't believe that was 'my company'. It still didn't feel like it. I could see Elena making notes as she listened.

"Did you see how many humans they had?" Elena's eyes went from Clayton to myself.

"Hundreds." I muttered. "We didn't really count them. Sorry. We just wanted to get the hell out of there. I should have asked more questions."

"After being drugged up for days? No fucking way." Reece swore. "Can't believe it. Get them fired. All of them. Hire someone else."

"Did they say what they did? What these latent abilities were?"

Again, I grinned sheepishly, and Clayton shrugged. Okay. So neither of us had been really all that patient in there- neither of us had wanted to listen to her. How much could it hurt for that all to wait a few days? Technically, Elena should have been in the meeting anyway, if this chick wanted her assistance so much.

Okay, I knew I had to grow up, I really did. 'Boss' or something of that place. Some part of me didn't want to know. I lifted little-Reece up, as big Reece leaned closer to nuzzle the back of my neck, which made Nick mutter something under his breath. Yeah. None of us were really going to grow up that fast.

My eyes met Nick's eyes, for a moment, and I felt myself feel sick when I remembered what she'd said. Fuck her. If I could I'd fire her. Somehow it was going to be hard to touch Nick after what she'd said. What did they want with his... anyway? He seemed to able to tell something was wrong, I saw it in his face, this hesitation as our eyes met and then I had to look away.

"What's for lunch?" Clayton stood up.

That was a welcome change of subject. Lunch had more or less been started when we'd turned up. We'd been just lucky enough to make it half-way in. That made me wonder again, just how far away were those facilities? We couldn't have been in the helicopter all that long and yet... we were home.

I flopped down beside Nick, still unable to look at him, and tried to eat. I was starving still, after being shut away, and tried to not eat too much. Rations meant that there wasn't as much food this time. We had to eat slower and make it count. Maybe this was easy for a human but for a bunch of werewolves? It was like learning to walk all over again.

Nick suddenly growled. Stood up. He yanked me to my feet, ignoring the stares, ignoring everyone, one plate of food in hand and me in his other. I was dragged upstairs into the guest room.

He literally slammed the door, locked it, and dropped the food onto the bedside table. A hand grasped my head and tugged me hard against him, lips finding mine, hard, possessive, a thrill running through me. Guilt.

"You have any idea how worried I was?" Nick growled softly, shoving me back onto the bed, crawling over me. "What might be happening to you? By who? You might have been..."

He didn't continue. He shut his eyes, a deep shudder going through him, and somehow I got it.

He'd been afraid they'd done more than kill me. Rationally, he probably would have felt it wasn't that, rationally he'd have known. Nick didn't care about the lunch or the who, or the what, and maybe my look at him had triggered something. He looked so hurt. I felt hurt. I couldn't look at him, I was angry with him, angry with him being angry. Wanting sex right now. I rolled off the bed before he could try and take it further, heading downstairs, and slid back into the seat at the table.

It wasn't long before Nick returned as well, angry and avoiding my eyes for a few minutes while we ate, everyone ignoring us.

Nick gritted his teeth as I refused to meet his eyes, I caught it out of the corner of my eyes, his eating forced and slow. It wasn't the usual behaviour for any kind of werewolf- already, all the other adults had started to reach for seconds, and it was only the two of us that were barely touching our food.

I knew he was angry. I felt it, felt it as clearly as I felt my own frustration and hunger, and refused to look him in the eye. I could barely face my own kids somehow. It was impossible to describe, it was like the past few months had finally built up on me, and I wanted to shut them all out. Nick, the kids, the Pack, all of it.

It was tiring and now, with this 'you're the owner of some big company' crap, I was overwhelmed. Finally, I dropped my fork, dropped my food onto Reece's plate, and headed upstairs without speaking.

Nick was quick to follow. I heard him race after me, heard his heart racing, and he slammed the door behind us.

"Did you get raped again?"

The question angered me somehow and I spun around to glare at him. Oh god, I knew it was unfair, but I wanted to be angry. "Is that what you think?"

His eyes scanned over me, staring, smelling, searching. It was what he feared. "You've been strange since you got back."

Strange. I hit him hard, shutting my eyes, seeing him with that woman again and again. All the anger I'd refused to feel came out. It upset me so much, his behaviour earlier, it really hurt me. And now it was coming out. I was so tired. "You... you... you _cheated_!"

Whatever Nick was expecting, it wasn't that, and he seemed stunned, letting me rain blows on him without the merest attempt at blocking me. "I, what?"

"Cheated!"

"Liz, I swear, I didn't-"

"Not now. Before. Back then." And I was upset, and hurt, and I couldn't deny it. I'd forgiven him and suppressed it so much. I shut my eyes. Okay, he'd said it wasn't his choice, he'd said he didn't remember it, but … but he'd behaved so badly, when he'd not had his memory, he'd done so much stupid stuff. Kissing people. Groping. Dancing. It was more than that. "I saw her. I met her. I met the woman who-" I scowled. "The one in the ally with you. On her knees for you."

"Who what? Liz, I _promise_, I didn't cheat." Nick pleaded. "I promise. I'd cut it off before I'd do that again to you."

Again. The word hurt and he cringed as pain flooded my face.

Downstairs, music came on, loud music. They were probably trying to not overhear this with their freaky werewolf hearing. I didn't blame them. I breathed, hard, hands clenching and relaxing, heart thumping hard, anxiety rushing through me. I fucking needed a holiday. World be damned. Bad guys, be damned. Skinwalkers, be damned, I just needed a holiday. "I can't take this, Nick. I thought I could but I can't take it. It's too much."

"We'll go on one. I promise. You can have anything you want. Liz, I love you, I'm sorry." He tried to hold me and I tried to push him back. Hurt flooded Nick's face. He stared at me. "Did they hurt you?"

"No."

"Why are you like this then?"

"I'm just tired. It's too much. All of it's too much. Don't follow me." I pushed past him, sliding out the door, and headed outside into the snow without a glance into the happy Christmas lunch. Crying seemed beyond me so I stood there, staring into the forest, wishing I had my home. Wishing I had a place to go. Nick's big ass house wasn't home for me. It was pretty, sure, but it didn't feel like home.

Stonehaven felt claustrophobic. I couldn't look at it. I couldn't look at them. I knew they'd saved my life, I knew that my life revolved around this place, but suddenly I resented it. I missed Australia, I missed the simple life of studying, of cooking for pleasure, or eating two minute noodles if I couldn't be bothered, of staying out late, and not worrying about being shot at. The life before I was a werewolf. I missed my family, wattles, I missed the weather, I missed the warmth of Christmas with the hot summer sun.

I wanted to run away. I went upstairs, quietly, Nick was back in the dining room. Packed slowly.

"You leaving Nick and your kids again?" Clayton said dryly, leaning in the door, his face tense and hair wet. I smelt dampness on him, soap, knew he'd showered.

"I need to go home." I muttered.

"This is your home now."

"I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be bitten. I didn't ask to be taken away from Australia like this. It's ..." When I met Clayton's eyes, I saw no sympathy, just annoyance. "I didn't!"

"You're whining. Elena didn't ask either."

Yeah, and she ran away for ten years, but I didn't mention that. I shoved clothing into the bag.

"You taking Nick on this holiday?"

I didn't answer. I didn't want to take Nick. I didn't want to take anyone. I gritted my teeth as I heard Clayton growl in frustration and shut the door, locking it. "Don't you dare stop me."

"You want to turn your back on your family, I won't stop you. I'll even drive you to the airport. But don't you think about coming back."

In other words, this was it. It was the Pack or it was home. I had to choose. I shut my eyes.

"You leaving your kids or taking them?"

I didn't answer him. Shoved more clothing into the bag.

"I see."

He didn't. Desperation filled me. I wanted to be understood. "I want-"

"This isn't just about what you want, is it? You've got a husband, you've got children, you've got a nephew, and you've got to think about what will happen if you're caught."

I wished it was that black and white. To Clay, leaving this place would probably be unthinkable, leaving Nick would be just not done. I stared at my half packed bag and a plate was shoved at me. Clayton ordered, "Eat this," and crossed his arms. "I ain't a babysitter. You eat it or I make you eat it. Elena's orders. I ain't upsetting her while she's pregnant and I don't care how much I upset you right now."

The hunger wasn't there any more but I ate anyway, his eyes on me, clearly not enjoying his role of babysitter. Bread, meat, gravy, mostly vegetables and a bean and egg salad. Not a werewolf's meal, there was no where near enough meat, and Jeremy had clearly tried to compensate by adding as much beans and egg to this salad as possible. The problem was that there was too many beans and it tasted kind of bland and weird. Maybe he didn't know how easy it was to make a good salad dressing, just a bit of lemon and balsamic vinegar with olive oil. That was, if we could get oil, but maybe with the rations...

Somehow I calmed down as I ate and stared at the poor salad.

"If you're angry with Nick, be clear with him, tell him what you need." Clayton said when I was done. No brotherly advice. He almost sounded annoyed. "Don't let him come to me sulking again. You want that lift?"

I didn't answer for a long time but finally shook my head and Clayton nodded a fraction. He headed out and left me there to stare at my half packed bag. He wasn't long though, he returned, Nick held by the scruff of his shirt, and shoved at me.

Nick stared at the bag and then at me, as Clayton slammed the door behind him, his big brown eyes widening. Damn it. The man was doing his cute eye thing unconsciously. I bit my lip. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

"I promised you, we'll go on a holiday, and I'll do whatever it takes. Booking might be a bit difficult right now, with the epidemic, but-" He shrugged. "Anything for you."

"Anything?"

"You can have the moon if you want. I heard they were selling land up there." He tried to smile but it faltered when I didn't return it. "Liz, I swear, I didn't cheat on you. I promise. Whatever she said she did, it was a lie."

"It was that woman who was … you said... you know. The alley. You said you thought it was me." I muttered.

Nick flopped down on the bed and stared at me, understanding dawning in his face, breathing out slowly. He looked tired and I felt bad suddenly. "That one."

"Yeah." I slid the bag off the bed and sat down beside him, our legs brushing, staring at my hands. "That one."

"Where'd you see her?"

"She works for the company." I added, "That I apparently run."

He didn't answer for a long time, and when he did, he attempted to joke. "Can we fire her?"

"Seriously tempted." I tried to return his smile and when his hand crept over, didn't shove it back. Tension faded as his hand squeezed mine.

Nick leaned against me, his head resting against mine, muscles still tense. "Well, give her a hard time at least."

"I don't know how to do any of this, Nick." I muttered. "I mean it. They want me to do this business stuff and I hate money."

"I noticed." Nick's lips twitched. "Whatever you want to do, do it."

"Give all the money to charity and be poor? Sponsor free medical clinics in America?" The 'no public healthcare' thing still baffled me.

"Well, you can be poor, and I'll pretend to be poor. It's the fashion this year." He joked softly. Nick was relaxing too, bit by bit, his fingers stroking across my hand. The smell of him so close only helped. "They need some help. There's a lot of sick humans right now."

"How bad has it been over the past week?"

"Crazy. Worse than crazy. We can't really go anywhere now, which suits us fine, but it's making it difficult. Half the houses are shut up. People have to have a certificate of health, you can't go outside between seven in the morning and seven at night, healthy kids are all limited to specific schools. Mass education." Nick scowled. He clearly did not like this. "Hopefully it'll be over soon. Lots of deaths. No one's getting buried right now- there's too many."

Oh god. I shut my eyes. It sounded awful. Really awful. Guilt filtered in.

"What's happening with the special humans?"

"Dunno. Maybe I should fund an Xmen type school." It was only a half joke. I did not want the company to keep them in some underground bunker like a bunch of criminals forever. It was cruel and wrong. Nick's bigass house suddenly flashed into my head. Oh man, it would be almost perfect. "We just lack the jet."

"Jet?"

"You know, x-man jet. For the human mutants." I smiled weakly and was rewarded by Nick's smile.

"So, you want to start free treatment clinics for the sick humans, and re-educate the mutants?" He offered. There was a hint of amusement in his face. "Really?"

Why the hell not?

"Nick, come here." I tugged him over, our lips gently, shutting my eyes. Relief flooded me as his lips, slightly chapped, grazed mine and I slid closer so he could hold me closer. "I love you too."

"Did they touch you?"

I shook my head. I knew what he meant. I knew, even after two years, Nick's worst nightmare was for that to happen again.

"I thought from the way you looked at me, that... well. Okay." He breathed out a long shuddering sigh. Shut his eyes just a moment before he opened them again to watch me strip. Nick's eyes were roaming over me slowly, watching for something, a bruise, a scratch, a slight dent that was new. He didn't have to say that was what his eyes were searching for- I knew the expression far too well. The 'Where have they hurt her today' expression.

"I'm okay." I breathed out, tried to smile, as I tried to stand there. My face flushed as he kept staring anyway. "Well, I'm freaking out a little, but they just kept us drugged."

"Good." All the tension was released from Nick's muscles as he breathed out. He flopped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, arm around my waist, shutting his eyes. "Drama. Aussie, always drama."

"Help me study?"

"Wasn't I already doing that?"

I didn't answer and he grinned up at me, winking, stroking his palm across my face. "Okay, maybe not."

"Maybe not." I agreed and slid across to kneel beside him, leaning down to kiss him again. "Or the kids."

"You know you love us."

"I do. I just miss freedom." It was true. I missed freedom. And maybe it wasn't really Nick or the kids that restricted it. I added quickly, "I mean, I miss how it was before this sickness."

"Me too. So let's deal with it, cure people, kill that stupid thing, and go back to living in our castle."

"About that..." I said softly, as he shifted up for another kiss, kissing his face and neck gently. "It's a bit big and fancy for me."

"Is it?"

"Just a bit." I laughed softly as he pouted. The poor spoiled playboy. "Let's think about how to make it more homely, yeah?"

"Homely?"

"You can have your playboy mansion section." I added. "With the hot chicks on the walls. As long as the kids don't go in."

"I'll get the camera, you do the poses, and you have a deal." Nick grinned, hand sliding up my side, brushing my hair back off my neck.

Banging on the door, and Clayton's voice, made us both jump. "You two made up yet? Told you, ain't babysitting."

Nick rolled his eyes and jumped up, tugging me up with him. "Yeah, yeah, Clay. How often did I care for your kids before mine?"

"Less than I've cared for yours." Clay opened the door. "And Elena's ordering you two to eat some more. Jer agrees."

So, naturally, Clayton agreed. I didn't bother to argue, I went downstairs, Nick and Clayton not far behind and flopped down. Reece wrapped his arm around me and squeezed, hugging me into him, his warmth adding to the comfort of being home.

"G'day." He offered softly. Nick flopped on my other side, hand in mine again within seconds.

After that, dinner was much more peaceful, Elena's mood the most chaotic thing. Clayton kept feeding her, she kept trying to make him eat, but at least it was like back to normal. Kids raced around us, the twins being gently handed around, adults doting on them while the toddlers and bigger kids played in and outside, snow trampled all throughout the halls. They calmed down as the power was turned off and the fire put on, the living room lit with a warm glow that eased everyone's moods, relaxed everyone, and it wasn't long before the toddlers and kids fell asleep. Nick and Clay carried them upstairs, while the adults relaxed, tucking them into beds I'd slid hot water bottles into.

"There'll be a blizzard tomorrow morning, coming in around eight or nine, so whatever's on your mind can wait." Antonio said, matter of factly, as he caught me coming downstairs. He prodded me. "Got it?"

"Got it." I nodded. " How does heating and power rations work during a blizzard?"

"There's been some announcements, heating and power are being limited to town halls, hospitals and schools. People who are at risk, families with young kids, the elderly, the sick, are being given free transport to these places. Everyone else is told to rug up, shut up the room with the fire, and wait."

"Like that movie." I said softly. Something about snow and climate change. Global warming turning into cooling, I wasn't sure. "Good that they're being taken care of."

"To be honest, it's just the local county doing it, others aren't being so generous. I agree though." Antonio nodded as he sipped his drink slowly. "It's difficult. Power's so limited, coal and fuel sources for the power plants are coming in so slowly, that they have to limit it. But the cold is deadly. Truth is, people might die, simply from exposure. It'll be a bad winter."

More deaths. Great. "I wish I could do something."

"Everything that can be done is being done. We're going to take care of our own family. Keep the little ones warm and safe. It's just a blizzard, not the end of the world, we can cope." He squeezed my leg and stood up. "Speaking of which, I'll get some of the firewood cut up. Want to help?"

I nodded and followed him outside. Someone had cut down a number of trees, collected smaller wood, and it had all been gathered in a workshop to dry out. We worked, I cut up the wood with the handsaw, Antonio cut it with the axe, the bitter wind blowing right through the thick winter clothing as if it didn't exist. Snow occasionally blew with it, nothing to the extent of a blizzard, but I could see the signs already. Every now and then stars were seen through the thick clouds, as clouds raced across the sky. The smell of sawdust filled my nostrils, mixed with the smell of snow and cold, Antonio's sweat mixing with it. It was kind of relaxing though. Hard work with someone I cared about.

"This wind." I muttered, as I dropped another smaller log down beside him, shivering. "Wow."

"Wind chill's probably making the cold worse. You know how to knit?" He was half-joking, of course, but even Antonio seemed to be a bit cold. "I'd pay for it right now."

"Don't you have a scarf?"

"Inside." He smiled somewhat. Antonio started to gather up the wood and stack it. "Just get this up, get armfuls, and get back in."

"How much do we want in there?"

"Good amount- don't want to come out here too often in a blizzard." He replied as he stacked it up, took up the axe, and started work. "You're angry with Nick?"

"I think I might have been for a while. About things. It's okay now." I glanced at Antonio, who didn't seem that all surprised, just shrugged.

"I wondered why he wasn't in the doghouse. It's about time." He didn't say much more, just smacked the axe into wood, and dropped it onto the pile.

We took huge armfuls, made several trips, and dropped them into the living room. Nick came back downstairs, hugging me close, kissing the back of my head.

"All asleep?"

"Happy and asleep." He smiled. The warm glow of love was there in his face as he gazed back up the stairs. "God, sometimes I love them."

"Sometimes you hate them?" I teased.

Nick grinned. "When they're coc-"

"Haha." I cut him off as Clay moved past, shoving Nick in the head, rolling his eyes as he went. "G-rated."

"Not anymore, sexy, all the kids are asleep." Nick squeezed my ass as he moved past, winking. "Presents and then sex."

I curled up against his side, relaxed now, as we exchanged gifts. Once again I didn't have gifts to give, which frustrated me, but no one seemed to care. This year things were not fancy, not new, mostly swapping of objects. Clothing. Elena got my pregnancy clothing, Nick's idea, which seemed to be a good idea. Everyone was mostly too sleepy to care much, we sat around the warm living room, occasionally poking the fire, trying to bribe each other to go back outside into the cold for more wood.

I fell asleep against Nick's thigh, eyes shutting, his hand lazily stroking through my hair as we stared at the fire.

* * *

><p>AN life has been crazy... so much going on, I am so sorry! I do think about this a lot. :) And silly me, adding it to the wrong story! lmao


	10. Blizzards

A knock woke us later that night, just barely audible across the winds, and I lifted my head blearly to see Elena stumbling for the door, her hair messed up, looking as exhausted as I felt.

Jeremy was quick to move past her, gently pushing her back to the living room with a soft "I'll answer it. You go back to sleep."

"I'm pregnant, not helpless." She muttered but it was clearly a temptation too great to resist. Elena turned around and lowered herself back onto the couch, Clay reaching up as he slid closer, sighing.

I watched Jeremy head for the door and vanish into the hallway. Voices, and the chill of wind blasting in through an open door, was all I could really make out.

Nick sat up slowly, stretching, curls all over the place. He jumped to his feet and ran a hand across my shoulder. "Relax, babe, I'll go check on the babies."

Babe? I rolled my eyes and watched him get up, stumbling a little in his sleepiness, wondering if I had to squash that nickname fast. Or did it really matter? Nick could call me whatever the hell he wanted. I shifted up slowly, crossing my legs, leaning against the couch.

Jeremy was talking to someone and I saw Elena listening intently too, her eyes half open, Clayton's fingers gently threading through her silvery blonde hair.

"You'll have to excuse us- we're not keen on radios or the internet." Jeremy was saying, as the door was shut, and I knew it had to be pretty serious if he was inviting them inside. A glance at my phone said it was close to one in the morning. Jeremy's voice came back. "Elena?"

Elena sighed softly. She rose to her feet from the couch. She looked uncomfortable and tired, her hand tracing over her stomach, Clayton's intense stare burning into the back of her head as she left.

"Sorry, can you get us something to drink? Something warm." Jeremy's voice drifted from the front room. Other appologies drifted in, all men, but nothing about i seemed threatening.

Clayton glanced at me and I got up, quickly, beating Elena into the kitchen. He didn't need to tell me. She and I moved into the kitchen, the warm water re-heated, the two of us getting cups and preparing them.

"Who is it?" I asked softly as I tried to get the teabags into each cup, yawning, making sure I got the right kind.

"Police." Elena shifted the hot water to one side and slowly poured it into each cup.

"I'll carry it." I said quickly, as she went to grab it, and she rolled her eyes. "Clay will beat me up if I don't."

Elena made a soft sound, either amusement or espseration, I couldn't quite be sure, and I followed her into the small sitting room that Jeremy was sitting in with a pair of policemen. They looked tired and cold, noses red, hands pink as they rubbed them together. Both looked appologetic as I slid the tray down and Elena sat down beside Jeremy.

"Elena and Anne are both parents here. You've probably seen them around town." Jeremy explained as I went to sit in the armchair near them.

"Sorry to bother you folks. But it's the law right now. Because of the blizzard, all families are to come to one of the shelters. Sorry to come so late, we should have come earlier, but there's been a few families in the county who refused to come in or forgot." The man looked geninuely appologetic and even tired. "Sorry to come so late."

"That's all right. Where were you wanting us to go?" Elena was pretty calm, even as she yawned, which just made the two men look even more appologetic as their eyes flickered to her clearly pregnant stomach. "At this time?"

"Better now than in the middle of a blizzard. There's the school or the library in the town, from what I understand, both are set up for young children to be entertained."

It wasn't the kids that worried me. I pictured the Pack, holed up in a small building for a day or two with the humans, and did not like it. Clearly Jeremy was thinking the same thing, he pressed his lips together, still apparently calm.

"Did you folks need a lift or some help? Are your cars able to take the snow? It's pretty dangerous but the blizzard's still not here, so it's safe enough. We've got a few more families to reach but we can-"

"We've got quite a few adults here, who stayed over for Christmas, so we'll be all right. The school or library, you say?" Jeremy gently cut him off and pushed the cup of tea at him. "Drink up, it'll warm you up."

They took the drinks gladly, busying themselves with the sugar and milk, while I glanced at Elena. She wasn't impressed with the idea either.

"Aren't you worried about the sickness spreading?" She said to them as they drank.

"Well, naturally. My own kids are already there." The other man nodded as he clutched to the warm mug in his hands. "But without power, we're just as afraid that folks will get sick, without any chance to help. Safer to evacuate people where there's medical personell on the spot. This is great, thanks."

"We're unlikely to need help." Jeremy spoke up. "Is this mandatory?"

"It is, or we wouldn't be the ones giving the message." The older policeman answered. He geninuely looked appologetic and drank his drink quickly. "Got to be heading off. The sooner you get going, the sooner you can get the kids to sleep again."

"We'll have to go past Anne's home to pick up some things for her children, but we'll leave within the hour." Jeremy reassured him. The two men stood up, Jeremy leading them out, Elena gritting her teeth as Clayton came in.

"You can't be seriously thinking about going." He muttered, flopping down beside her, his nostrils flaring as the scent of the humans rose up from the cups. Clayton scowled at them as if they were the humans, and then his eyes went over Elena and myself. If it wasn't for the way his muscles in his neck sort of tensed, and his hand sort of tensed, I might not have thought he was angry. The man was really good at hiding it these days. "We're all needing rest."

"If we don't, they'll return." Elena replied. "I don't feel that eager to go either."

We went quiet as we watched the lights of the car outside flash across the windows, before it was gone, and Jeremy was coming back inside covered in snowflakes with a fresh blast of the gale blowing outside following him.

"I was thinking," He said, calmly, "We should take everyone to Nick's house."

Nick's house. Even Jeremy saw that big old place as Nick's 'house'. I hid a smile at that.

"We're not going."

"We'll say we got caught up in the storm. A tire blew or something. A few more hours of that wind and that snow, and we'll be stuck anyway, and Nick's house can probably cope with all of us better. And..." Jeremy's eyes grazed over me, significant, "There's guards there."

Oh bloody hell. He was thinking about attacks again. This was why I needed a holiday. I didn't want to depend on guards, as nice as they were, right now. Still I caught his point. It was unlikely anyone could or would bother in the middle of a blizzard, with a house full of Pack, but Jeremy tended to always seem to think things ten steps ahead of everyone else. Elena nodded as she stood up. She sighed. "I don't really want to leave but I see your point. We'll get that firewood into the car, get everything packed up, and the kids will barely notice if we're calm."

That was probably true, except for Matt, I could see the kid instantly catching on. Since the bite he'd become increasingly aware of everyone's moods, this keen puppy staring at the grown wolves, and attempting to get involved. Now that he was officially a 'pre-teen' he'd become even more determined to join in. No Justin Bieber or weird rap artist for him. He wanted to be a badass werewolf like Clayton.

My thoughts drifting and body tired, Elena's response made me jump.

"We're going. Better trapped there, than trapped in a school with humans. Clay, can you get Antonio and get the firewood into the car? Anne, do you have much wood and food there?" She blinked, a moment, rememberng that I hadn't actually been around for a week. Elena hesitated. "Better ask Nick and Reece."

"On it, darling." He reassured her, standing, and moved to follow Jeremy into the living room.

"I'll?" I asked. I wasn't sure suddenly.

"THere's some boxes in the garage, folded up, some tape in the kitchen draw. You can get the food into the boxes." She stood up awkwardly, reaching the stage where her stomach was hampering her progress, gladly accepting my gentle push. "Thanks. These couches are traps. You get that done and we'll get the kid's things from the laundry. I don't want to wake them."

I nodded and went to do my job in the cold kitchen, taping up the cardboard boxes and stacking things in them, using the insulated shopping bags for some of the things from the fridge. Nick wandered in, yawning, smelling of milk and the faint scent of talcum powder. "Babies set for another few hours."

"Good, because we're moving."

"Moving?" He blinked at me and yawned again, only now staring at the boxes, confusion flooding his face. Nick seemed to wake a little and stared at the window suddenly. "What's wrong? Attack?"

"Of the law kind." I muttered. "We're all going to the big house."

"How much food you got at your castle, Nick? How much wood?" Clay called as he wandered in through the side door, his golden blonde hair covered in the white flakes, reaching up to brush them off him impatiently. "How much do we need to pack?"

"All the wood she ne-" Nick yelped as a foot met his shin and jumped back. "We've got some, yeah, but not for everyone."

"ENough wood for three days?"

"Suppose, but we only really use the fireplace in the living room." He replied.

"We might need it burning more if it's going to be cold. You get that all packed up, Nick, help her out." Clay nodded at what I was doing. "Can't hurt to have extra."

Probably not, though I suspected he wasn't keen on leaving Stonehaven, and his mood had clearly soured outside in the freezing cold. Clayton shot the dark window a look before he wandered into the living room for more wood.

"Never wake a sleeping wolf." Nick grinned. He moved closer to kiss my neck, brushing my hair aside, lips grazing the nape of my neck. "Need help?"

"Please." I turned around to wrap my arms around his neck, nuzzling into his neck, shutting my eyes. "Just a hug."

"Anytime for you." His voice rumbled against my neck. It comforted me and I felt his arms squeeze harder as he lifted me up. "Anytime. You're okay with me now?"

"I love you even when I'm upset."

"You too. Right." Nick let me go and backed off, rubbing his hands together, eyeballing the cupboards. "Let's get the food packed and surprise everyone by not creating another baby right here and now." He flashed me a grin and headed for the cupboard.

We didn't talk as we worked, sleepy and worn out from the past month, and it felt like the past hung in the air around us. So much, I wanted to tell him, and that he might have wanted to ask, but neither of us knew where to start. Or maybe it was the wrong time of the day to offer it.

My eyes kept going up to the windows though, searching for ... I wasn't sure. I was on edge now. My anger had gone, my self-pity, but I couldn't quite let go of this need to be on edge and protective all the time. Nick's eyes went to the window quite a bit as well.

We carried the boxes out, several at a time, stepping carefully on the slippery path to the cars. Clay had loaded one iwth all wood, and we slid the boxes into the back of one of the others. Three cars were going.

"Where's Paige?" I asked as I came inside again, shivering, breathing in the warmth of the living room with relief. I loved the snow but... not at night, not just before a blizzard, with a crazy wind.

"She left while you were asleep." Elena called. She wheeled one of the suitcases into the hallway with a few waiting already. "They're in town for the blizzard. Lucas' father wanted him in a more accessible place."

Fair enough. That didn't shock me in the slightest. She went back into the study and called, "Food all packed?"

"A few more boxes to put in the car but we're done." Nick was already in the kitchen. "You want us to get the kids when we're done?"

"Yeah. We're getting the cars warm. We'll just pick them up in the blankets, settle them in the back, and hope they won't be too interested in walking. Antonio's getting the cars warmed up." Elena nodded and stretched, slowly. "Then back to bed for all of us."

"Sounds wonderful." I groaned softly and went to get the last of the boxes.

Reece moved past, his muscles flexing as he carted bags outside, I caught glimpses of some of the other Pack outside working. Elena was directing them from the doorway, the fireplace was put out, the back of all three cars packed right up. I slipped a lot, glad I wasn't driving in this, as I tried to get the last of the stuff packed.

Somehow we managed to be done within half an hour. Antonio and Nick went for the triplets, easily handling them between them, as I woke Matt up and carried him down to the car. Or that was the plan. Like I'd expected the second I'd come into the bedroom he shared with Kate and Logan tongiht, his eyes flew open, and he was packing within seconds. Christmas toys, mostly, and I ended up trailing after him with his bedding as he apparently decided it was less important than getting his new stuff down the car. Clayton lifted up both his twins at once, kissing them as they grumbled, while I grabbed their bedding as well.

It was the twins and the triplets that caused the most fuss, no surprise, though once the twins were in a warm car they fell asleep easily. The triplets on the other hand, once they had been woken, did not go back to sleep. They sat there, whining, grumbling, and Antonio sat in the car with them trying to pacify them while we got everyone into cars.

I crawled into the back seat of the other car, with the twins, leaving poor Nick and Antonio to the over-tired triplets for the entire drive. While Jeremy drove, more confidant in the gale winds and the snow than I could have ever been, I kept my eyes on the other two cars behind us, watching their headlights obsessively. THe world was white around us, white and beautiful, the winds howling against the cars and making them shudder on the roads. The roads were slippery, deep with snow, which made the going slow. It felt peaceful except for the look on Jeremy's face as he drove, his hands white on the wheel, jaw set. Reece was asleep in the front seat already- he was snoring softly.

The twins slept so calmly. I watched them, their noses a bit pink with cold, but warm and secure in the warm car, little bear hats on their heads. They must have gotten them today, I hadn't seen them before, two cute pale brown hats with bear ears sticking up, and a pair of eyes and noses above their foreheads. Trust Nick. They looked warm enough though.

"It's going to be a slow drive." Jeremy spoke up, cutting through the sleepy daze I was in, his eyes meeting mine in the dark through the mirror. "Have a nap too. You might need it."

I didn't argue. I curled up, shut my eyes, and tried to nap.

The door opening woke me, as it did the twins, I heard them stirring with their soft sounds beside me. I opened my eyes, half expecting to see the Skinwalker or something, but it was just Jeremy. A tired smile was etched across his face as he held out a hand to help me back out again.

"How slippery is the path?" I muttered. Silly question- the second I tried to stand, I failed, and I got why Jeremy was so keen on helping. "What can I do? Oh." I hesitated as I stood up more carefully, Jeremy's hand there. "FIre in the living room."

"Probably a wise idea. You get that done and the kids can sleep in there tonight. I think Nick's got the triplets under control." Jeremy hesitated as a car pulled up. I heard it too, the triplets just as noisy as before, if not worse. But he flashed me another smile. "Quickly, inside, before he capatures you."

I grabbed the keys offered and headed into the living room with a torch in hand. Like it had always been, it had all my stuff, my paintings, my slightly worn couch, scratched coffee table, toys here and there, a toddler mug' sitting sideways on the coffee table. Probably empty, when it tipped, I hoped. No suspicious stains anywhere. I quickly swept toys and objects to one side. No point trying to clean up the room. The sounds of babies being carried in made me glance up as I knelt at the fireplace, stacking the wood, sticking the little 'quick fire' things into the fireplace.

"Nick's going to wait in the car with the kids till the beds are set up." Jeremy said lightly as he gently lowered the car seats to the ground, both twins already asleep again, their eyelashes resting gently on their cheeks. He knelt beside me and we worked on the fireplace. "He said they're not really going to be much help when the twins are so happily sleeping."

"Tired babies?"

"Exactly."

I was relieved the twins were being so good about this. They were cosy, warm, loved, and too little to care much about where it was they slept. I sighed softly as we got the fire going. Naturally, as soon as we had a small fire under the logs, it was time for the twins to really wake and need me. Jeremy motived the little fire to grow as I changed nappies and comforted the babies, who seemed to only need a quick snuggle, but it reminded me that I'd have to get them food soon. Without power. It was lucky we had a gas stovetop.

"Is it really that bad for the humans?" I muttered. I knew the answer but...

Jeremy just nodded as he stood up. I heard others coming in and out through the front door, probably with the boxes of food, tired voices as kids were brought inside. Only Matt seemed really awake, Kate was clinging to Clay like a little monkey and Logan trudged behind his mum, leaning against Elena's side, eyes already half shut. He'd have probably let her carry him if Clay wasn't so obsessive about Elena not lifting anything.

"Where's the bedding?"

"Blow up matts and spare mattresses are in the garage." I hoped they were still there, anyway, I'd at least been prepared for a flood of Pack. "Bedding's in the box in there."

"Big box?"

"Literally. A huge plastic box." It was probably designed for moving cold things, I wasn't sure, but I'd found it cheap and cleaned it out. Great place for storing pillows and stuff.

Clayton vanished as Elena got the kids to flop on the couch. Matt wandered over to sit beside the fire, while Jeremy teased it into a better blaze, holding his hands up.

"Don't touch it."

"I won't." Matt muttered, yawning. "Can we get marshmallows?"

Jeremy's lips twitched. "No."

With Rose more or less asleep, I carefully lowered her back down into the car seat, and got up. She started to wake and I glanced at Matt.

"Hey, can you hold Rose for a little while?"

"Hold her?" He blinked as he shifted over. "And talk to her?"

"Yeah. Softly." I nodded as I carefully lowered her back down into Matt's arms. He seemed fascinated by her. "She's sleepy so she just needs someone for now. I'll get the porta-crib and the bedding for the kids." I stood up straight.

"I'll get some help, get the food and things in. Better we do it now than tomorrow when the blizzard really hits." Jeremy stood as well. "I'll wait with the babies till you're back."

I nodded and hurried, knowing everyone was eager to crawl into bed, hanging onto the torch in the darkness of the house. Without power it made for an interesting attempt to pump up air mattresses. Jeremy unfolded the twin's porta-cot and got them into bed somehow without waking them. It was when the triplets got carried in, still awake and grumbly, that they really woke up and started to cry. Somehow, between myself, Jeremy, Clayton, Nick and Antonio, we managed to feed the twins, change their nappies again, feed and change the triplets, and sooth all five of them to sleep, while trying to pacify the annoyed sleepy kids who kept getting woken up.

It was almost five before all kids were asleep, and we collapsed in the kitchen, boxes of food unpacked on the counters. No one looked like they could be fucked to move or to talk for a long time. Coffee was out- since Elena had become pregnant, all coffee was decaf anyway.

"Fuck." Reece muttered, head on arms, eyes shut.

"Couldn't have made it to that school even if we tried." Clayton muttered.

No one had the energy to verbally agree, I noticed a few jerky nods, before people started to wander off for bedrooms. Clay and Elena, and myself and Nick, were probably the only ones who'd try and fit into the living room with the kids. Although this big old home was too much, and it really was, at times like this I had to admit the extra space was pretty useful.

I followed Nick into the living room, he collapsed onto the couch with a soft groan, tugging over me.

"Sh- you'll wake them again."

"No, you will." He grumbled, squeezing my back. A sound made us both jump but it was just Clayton dropping the fire guard around the fireplace, so the toddlers couldn't get to it, and flopping a mat beside it.

I got up slowly and managed to squeeze a single mat in against the cold wall, Nick dropping blankets on it, the two of us crawling in and snuggling into each other in the very snug space. Whatever else we had to worry about... it wasn't something we had to worry about right now.

That was what I hoped, anyway.

Waking to the sound of screaming, anyone would have been forgiven for waking up in full 'crazy ass wolf mother mode', and I lurched up half expecting to see the house on fire, or magic spells raining down around my ears, or some creepy 'skinwalker' at the window. What I did see almost made me wish it was something like that.

Kids. On the loose. Tired kids.

And we were trapped in the house with them.

Outside the blizzard was almost in full swing, more or less, the windows rattled, there was nothing except white outside, white that banged against the windows, that darkened the already dark room. I had to give it to Nick though, he was already up, already trying his best to calm them down. He smiled appologetically at me as I yawned.

"Sorry, tried to let you sleep in after your ordeal. Clay's retreated to upstairs." Nick yelped as Dominic raced past, stepping on Nick's sock covered toes, an aeroplane in Dominic's hands. "Mickie, come back here!"

Mickie? Okay, that was a new nickname. Dominic. Mickie. Mick. I smiled somewhat, sitting up, finding that our blow up mat had deflated overnight.

Sleep was tempting but Nick was barely in control, even with Antonio and Reece nearby, so I got up and wandered around in zombie mode. First for the kitchen, I wondered how the hell I'd clean dishes without going mad, only to wander in and find Jeremy at the sink. Hot steam rose up around him as he scrubbed at the kid's 'unbreakable' dishes.

"Relax, kids are fed."

"How'd you do the hot water?"

Jeremy blinked at me like I'd lost my mind. "Gas stovetop. Big pot."

Oh, duh. I yawned again, rubbed my forehead, trying to get myself re-focused again. Of course that was how he'd done it. I was buggered today. "Oh yeah."

"Clay's upstairs with the big kids." He informed me and gestured towards the fridge. "Cold things are in the garage where it's freezing, but there's some breakfast in there."

"All rationed out?"

"If we want it to last, it needs to be." Jeremy nodded. This pained him, I knew that, the man had a habit of throwing food at the Pack. Not surprising. Full tummies made for happy wolves. This ration thing was going to make our control more edgy by the week.

Still, for now, the 'rations' was more than enough for me. My mind drifted over everything, the business, the bitch who'd gotten 'DNA samples', the skin-walker. attacks.

"Much chance of any attacks in the storm?"

"I don't think so." Jeremy replied as he dropped a lime green plate onto the drying rack and tugged gloves off. "The wind's strong enough to knock around a werewolf."

"That's a relief." It was, sort of, but at the same time I kind of felt like I needed to be doing something. Hunting something. Attacking. I felt the slow tremor of unease run through me, the urge to change, to hunt, to …

"But you could probably risk a run." Jeremy added, his dark eyes on me. "If you needed."

"It's not that. It's just ...all the things we've got to worry about now. It makes me edgy." I muttered. Stabbed the cold meat on the plate. "That's it."

"That's it?" Jeremy actually smiled somewhat and flopped down, yawning, stretching his arms. "I am a bit ...edgy... too. We all are."

"Three days to plan?"

"Three days to plan _and_ relax." Elena said from behind us as she came in. "Big kids have eaten now." She dropped empty plates into the hot water and sat down beside Jeremy, rubbing her eyes, looking as exhausted as the rest of us. "I'd nap but the baby isn't sleepy."

"Having a wriggle?" I offered. Wriggle was probably a nice way of putting it. But she wasn't even full term yet.

She nodded. There was a tenseness as she shifted on her seat. "More or less. Clay wants me to lie down anyway."

Jeremy wrapped an arm over her shoulders, hugging her close, affection all over his face. "Don't feel like you need to stay up all the time today."

"Clay would have me in bed all day if he got his say." She smiled somewhat and yawned, which triggered both of us to yawn, Elena yawn stretching out even longer than hours. "But I might try a few more hours." She stood up slowly and headed for the hall again, leaving the two of us.

"How along is she now?"

"Closing in on twenty weeks." Jeremy replied softly. "More or less."

She looked further along than that to me but I wasn't sure. Some people gained weight faster than others and this was her second pregnancy. Weight tended to show faster with the second. I knew it had for me. The chances of her carrying more than one was probably higher than for humans as well.

"Do you think she's having twins again?"

"It might be that, I considered it." Jeremy admitted. He stood up and went for the coffee plunger. "Do you want some decaf?"

I didn't see the point but I nodded anyway. The smell of the coffee did help clear my brain somewhat.

"If she is, we'll borrow your furniture. If that's all right." Jeremy strethced again, yawned again. "Clay thought you'd probably be glad to move it out of your house."

He was right. We had way too much stuff for the kids. "Yeah, please. Borrow away. Clothing too. Toys."

That made Jeremy smile somewhat. He didn't speak again till I was offered a hot mug of the steaming coffee, his hands cupping the warm cup, and his smile fading.

"How has your depression been?"

"It hasn't been a big problem." I muttered. I saw his eyebrow raise and remembered last night. Oh yeah- I'd threatened to dump Nick and the kids and run away to Australia. "I mean, I'm stressed. More than depressed. It's just a lot."

"I can see how you'd be stressed." Jeremy agreed softly. We heard a loud yell from the living room- Nick raising his voice at the kids. Rare event for him. He raised his eyes to the ceiling. "I can really see it. But if you need to leave, even just for a few weeks, speak to Elena. The Alpha's the one who needs to know."

"I know." I did know too. The last time I'd run away, I'd not told anyone, and I knew that was more or less a BAD thing to do. "I do know."

"It just lets her know what to expect, what to plan for, and how to handle Nick."

"I don't want to run away. Or hurt Nick." I didn't. I wanted to escape other things, not Nick, escape other memories that involved Nick.

"I know." Jeremy reached out to take my hand, his palm warm from the hot drink. "You're not coping with this alone. Everything you have to deal with, we'll all take on. The business, the children, because that's what we do. Pack. You do it for us and we do it for you. Leaving, without telling us, hurts everyone."

It was like being scolded and loved all at once and somehow it made me feel worse for the 'I need to run away to Australia!' tantrumn I'd had last night. I nodded, grimicing, caught between wanting to smile reassuringly and cry. God. When did I become such a crybaby?

"I don't know what to do with the business, Jeremy." I admitted. "They want me to run it."

I suddenly felt like a kid again, speaking to an older wiser person, and Jeremy's calm dark eyes only heightened it. Emotions came back a little. "Sorry, I don't mean to whine..."

"No, you've got a burden. I told you. We all take it on. They deal with medicine?"

I nodded. Jeremy went quiet and stared into the black liqued in his cup. "And the humans with abilities."

"Caged away." The words, even as I said them, took on a meaning for me that went beyond dislike. Caged away... like I had been. They had been changed, their whole world turned upside down, and they were suddenly imprisioned. Like I had been. "If I'm in charge, if they're serious, I can't ...let that happen."

"No, but what are we dealing with? New supernatural species." Jeremy agreed, nodding slowly. "They might want to go straight home and we can't let that happen."

We. The word kind of comforted me. Jeremy wasn't talking as if this was just my choice. He stared at his cup.

"I kept joking about how I had to create an X-men type school."

Jeremy chuckled softly and gazed at the window, as it rattled in the gale winds, watching outside thoughtfully. "Well, they do need help. Guidance. Their lives have to change now."

"Do they have to keep it secret?" I wondered out loud. Took a sip of the hot drink, swalling it quickly, feeling the warmth burn my throat.

"I honestly am not sure. For the moment, yes."

"Less humans in the world and more supernaturals. The balance is tipping."

We both went quiet then. That was true, in a way, with so few humans now. So many dying or dead. They still outnumbered us by huge numbers, even billions, but the gap was closing.

"It doesn't matter how this disease was created- it mutated."

"Like they do." I agreed softly, thinking of the common cold.

"It can supress a supernatural's abilities and trigger latent abilities in humans, from what we know." Jeremy breathed out. "Balancing it."

"It's a brave new world out there." I suddenly saw it- supernaturals. Open in public. Humans either hating or loving them. Crazy. Supernatural hunting humans. Humans hunting supernatural. New wars, ignoring skin color, but targeting whether a species could do some fancy trick or not. "A new reason for battles even. From both sides."

"Which is why we've kept it secret. Not just to protect us, but to protect them. Any mutt who assumes he's better than humans and has the right to enslave them should be dealt with." Jeremy nodded. He drank, eyes back on me now, then lowered his cup. "Their prophecy, around Elena and Clay's children, probably would use this. I might go back to my notes and double check. The last thing we need is supernatural religiously using a prophecy for human hunting."

"What would they do to humans who've become like us? And then there's the skinwalker. Daniella." I groaned softly. I hadn't even thought about our 'allies' in Forestwatch. "Oh man, I forgot about them. Do you think they'll be okay?"

"They're fine. I made sure of it when I found out about the blizzard. And that's a good question." Jeremy stood up. "You might not be imprisoning them. You might be protecting them by keeping them secret. We're here for a few days. Forget the Skinwalker, let us deal with that, think about those humans. We'll have a meet when everyone's rested, from what Elena's been saying, and we've all got things to work out."

"A meet?" That was a good idea.I stood up as well. "Well, I better research too."

"I'll be in Antonio's study." Jeremy reached out to hug me, hard, his warmth and scent flooding over me again. "Rest too. Nick will be asleep by lunch."

I nodded and we went our separate ways.

* * *

><p>AN-

I am back somewhat! :) Posts won't be as amazing as they were before, I've got a lot happening in life, but hey... health is improving enough to get some writing done! Believe me, I've missed this story and everyone.


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